


Truth or Dare

by SpookshowBabyx



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), swan queen - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:22:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7111159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpookshowBabyx/pseuds/SpookshowBabyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Visiting the Charming's apartment to find Emma alone, Regina accepts the offer of a drink and the explanation of a game Emma suggests they play. To be continued...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: A requested, lighthearted, flirtatious piece for a friend that wanted something along the lines of my Strip Poker story. I went to boarding school, so these are always fun for me to take a stab at! :p This is- tentatively- set at the end of the last season, after Henry breaks the pen and they find their way back to Storybrooke out of the Author's book, but before Dark Swan/ more drama. The timing is not super important, but I wanted to experiment with working with a later series, mostly because of the increased sense of camaraderie these two have and shared experiences.
> 
> Hope you enjoy and comments would be awesome! :D

Stalking up the stairs to the school teacher's apartment, Regina knocks just once before letting herself in. She'd spied the lights on inside from the street downstairs, and she has become such a regular visitor that she feels no guilt in crossing the threshold ininvited.

_Not that that was ever really an issue..._

No. But these days the Charmings don't take issue with her decisive and sometimes bossy ways either. Not for the most part anyway.

She's come here to give Mary Margaret a couple of documents pertaining to the running of the school, having found them in the mess of the drawers in her office that have suffered disarray due to the strange exchange of power back and forth between herself and Snow. Ordinarily, she is not in the habit of relinquishing control- whether it's her name above the door or not- but, for the sake of deciding who should be first alerted if one of the water fountains begins leaking, she's  _more_  than ok to hand over that particular burden.

_And good riddance!_

As it is, it is not Snow that she finds sat perched up at the kitchen island but Emma, who glances around at her swiftly as she lets herself in and sighs.

"Why bother knocking at _all_  if you're going to do that?"

The blonde grumbles, and Regina pays any annoyance little mind as she strips herself of her coat, hangs it up on the door, and generally makes herself at home.

"You've not even begun getting up. I might have died of old age before you bothered answering the door."

"Hmm. Sadly, I think it would take a little more than that."

"Sadly?"

The brunette hisses, and she raises a brow challengingly at Emma who simply sips from her glass and maintains easy eye contact as the older woman attempts to stare her down.

 _Oh, I miss the days when I instilled at least a_  little _fear in the woman._

"Were you looking for me?"

Emma asks, unfazed by the electric intensity of the Mayor's gaze. There had been a time when those looks had made the breath in her lungs catch and ache as she'd felt almost paralysed, but the wariness with which she had once met the darker woman has dissipated into a strange breed of amusement.

The  _other_  reason she'd sometimes felt a little breathless when locked in with Regina in a silent duel is something that still remains, but she refuses- as she has always done- to think about all too much.

"For you? No. I came to give these to Mary Margaret."

Regina explains, pulling the papers out of a neat folder she's had clutched to her side and leaving them on the small table in the corner.

"What are they?"

"Nothing of any interest to  _you_ , dear."

The brunette states smoothly, and upon concluding that she reads Regina's dismissal of the papers as entirely genuine, Emma ignores them in favour of frowning down at her glass which is just a sip away from empty.

"Well  _that_  happened without any warning. Do you want one? Mary Margaret's out on the school camping trip thing, I thought you'd have known."

"Hm. Slipped my mind."

The Mayor snaps; never appreciating the blonde painting her in a less than perfect light, no matter  _how_  many situations the two have now faced together. For one, it goes completely against the role she believes she plays in their relationship; the ravishing wit and the idiot. For another... It has just always  _bothered_  her to make a mess of things in front of Emma. Something to do with the blonde's eyes. There is an iciness there as well as tentative complexity and she has always guessed that the younger woman is one who remembers almost everything whether she bothers commenting on it or not.

"Mine too. I was kind of confused coming down to a tent drying over the sofa this morning, and mom walking around in what I'm going to  _presume_  are David's waterproofs. At least I  _would_ , apart from I have no clue why a coma patient would have waterproofs, and we never needed them when dealing with Ursula."

"Don't worry, I'm sure  _one_  of your foolish ideas will have us all needing them and whatever other ridiculous articles to go alongside."

"Hey, it's not always  _my_  ideas!"

"Not  _always_ , no."

Regina smirks, and Emma offers her a weary sigh as she fetches another glass down from the cupboard above the counter and pours them each a couple of fingers of whisky.

"I'm surprised you're not helping out, Sheriff. I would have thought Snow might need an extra pair of hands what with taking a hoard of prepubescents out into the woods."

"And that description is  _exactly_  why I decided that it was more David's brand of Sheriffing than mine. I'm busy manning the fort here."

She conspires, knocking back a good third of her drink and smiling wickedly.

"Yes, I can see that."

Regina muses silkily as she notes the beginnings of alcohol induced blush coloring the blonde's pale cheeks tellingly.

"Anyway, Robin is out helping too so far as I know."

"He will be, yes. He's quite useful that way."

The brunette goads and green eyes roll as Emma shakes her head and regards the dwindling bottle of Mackinlay's pensively.

"I'd accept your thinly veiled bait there, but as Hook's out with that drunken knave guy, I doubt 'useful' comes into play. I've actually refrained from asking all too much about it in fear of having to take up my  _own_  brand of Sheriffing."

"I would think that might be wise... Doing so, anyway. As for your insistence on dating the pirate, I could think of other words."

"I know. You use them frequently."

Emma grumbles, but not without a little helping of amusement. In all honesty, she has grown to look forward to these odd exchanges with the brunette; Regina once quite literally her mortal enemy, and now- through some bizarre concoction of circumstance and fate- someone that she has come to ( _privately!_ ) consider her best friend. She would guess that the Mayor sees things similarly as the brunette has made it a bit of a habit to show up at the Station with no real reason at all any time she knows the blonde might be slogging through a graveyard shift and Henry is sleeping at the Charming's. With the way things are in town at the moment, graveyard shifts are something for which there is no real need at all... But, Regina imagines the blonde understands that calling it 'work' rather than 'necessity' eases the blow of occasionally having to catch a break from her parents.

"Any luck finding your own place? There's only about a  _dozen_  houses standing empty and available after all."

Regina asks, and she chuckles knowingly at the glower Emma throws her. It is not something that the younger woman has openly discussed with her- such baring of her soul and emotions not really Emma's style for the most part- but she imagines the main reason the blonde has failed to pack up and move out as she had been keen to do originally has a lot to do with Hook and with Henry.

More so with Hook.

If she moves out, that opens the door- so to speak- to the two of them moving in together.

Regina sometimes wonders if the pirate has clued in on this also and has any thoughts as to Emma's sudden surprising reluctance to put anything into motion.

She almost mentions this to the blonde, but ends up biting her tongue. This is her first drink to match Emma's forth or fifth by the looks of things, and as much as she sometimes misses riling the blonde up, she doesn't want to initiate that kind of argument. Emma is fun when she's hot and bothered-  _surely there are other ways to think of it?_ \- but the kind of argument that would result in prying behind the curtains would be the stony, silent, avoiding type and she has no taste for getting into any of that again.  _Mostly_  because Emma can pool off icy better than she can herself- her own irritation the kind that usually needs to erupt openly- and she hates being bested. Partly also because she really does quite enjoy the blonde's company and spoiling it with an undercurrent of tension seems a waste.

 _Ah, but there has_ always _been tension. Always. Even now, sat here across from her. I don't entirely know why it's there and what it stems from but I know enough to be sure that she feels it too. It has always been safest for us to feign ignorance on that particular matter, and I would guess she's avoided delving deeper just as I have myself. We work well together and each of us is finally happy. To acknowledge what I think that strange undertow might be- what I had once begun slowly understanding it might have all come down to... That would be dangerous..._

Not to mention the very notion of anything like... that... is of course entirely absurd.

"These chairs are terrible."

She muses breezily, showing no hint of the rather alarming shadows of thoughts she is  _absolutely_  going to entertain _no_  further in her mind.

"Well, if you didn't insist on sitting like you have a stick up your ass, Your Majesty-"

"-I'm sitting the exact same way  _you_  are. Sorry to ruin whatever spiel you had cooking. I'm complaining because they're uncomfortable. It has nothing to do with how I sit."

Regina snaps, and Emma laughs darkly before admitting defeatedly

"I'd carry on, but they actually  _are_  kind of numbing after a while. Want to take this someplace more comfortable?"

She asks with a tilt of her jaw towards the sofa, and the brunette's brow furrows as it's _this_  kind of insistence to word things the way she does that had led her towards some of the thoughts she absolutely  _doesn't_  have about Emma in the first place.

"So long as it doesn't smell like tent."

"Tell me, what does 'tent' smell like, Regina?"

"Your attic. Which, having been up in your bedroom, was close enough to smell the damp."

"My room doesn't smell of damp. And anyway, when were _you_  up there?"

"With Henry I think. After you went off on one of your little panic attacks pertaining to whatever was bothering you that  _particular_  week."

Regina explains after a moment of racking her brains, but she catches the way Emma narrows her eyes as she takes a seat beside her on the sofa and supposes perhaps that  _had_  been a little low.

"Says the woman who cast a curse to end all curses because she was annoyed at a child."

The blonde murmurs.

_Ah yes. Fortunately, she can also dish it out._

"Let's stop this now before it gets out of hand."

Regina suggests wearily, and to her surprise, Emma laughs as she pulls a hideous crocheted blanket up over her knees.

"Seconded. Man, can you imagine what it would have been like if I'd had magic when I'd actually hated you? It would have been carnage!"

"...Did you really hate me?"

Regina asks with a frown, more curious than anything else. Emma has diplomatically stated a couple of times that 'the past is the past' and that she understands their differing view points, but this is the first time the brunette has ever heard that she might have been  _hated_.

"Well... No. Not exactly. I hated being  _around_  you because you treated me like shit... And you would be thinking of ways to treat me even  _worse_  in the middle of doing it!"

"... At times, yes."

"But I guess I didn't hate you. I kind of _enjoyed_  it sometimes, the way you were. That sounds weird, I know, but... I went through this long period of time where I wouldn't get passionate about anything. Stuff would happen with my job and in my life and I just didn't really react, I guess. On the surface I did a little, but I wasn't really all that bothered by anything much because I just didn't care. Then, when you and I started going head to head, I found I  _could_  be passionate. It mattered to me- trying to best you."

She smirks, and the brunette raises a brow but smiles back just the same.

"Well, you really  _were_  quite an impressive thorn in my side, I will give you that."

"Thanks."

"Oh no, thank  _you,_  dear. I am thrilled to have ignited your passion, Miss Swan."

Regina goads wickedly, and her better judgement begs of her why she feels this is a good idea, but whisky is not usually her drink, and the younger woman has always had a way of making her reckless. Emma simply snorts at this, coughing on her drink as she regards the brunette with watering eyes.

"Seriously. The stuff you sometimes say to me. An outsider might think..."

"... An outsider might think what?"

Regina asks cautiously, sipping from her own glass, and the blonde shakes her impressive mane and reaches over for the bottle she'd placed on the coffee table in front of them.

"Never mind. But go on.  _As_  we're sharing. How much  _did_  you actually hate me?"

"You have to ask? I would have thought the attempted poisoning might speak volumes."

"Oh yeah... You know you never did apologise for that? But anyway, that's not really what I meant. You hated me because I was the Saviour. And because of Henry... How much did you actually hate  _me_  though, just for who I am, not those other things?"

Contemplating her whisky thoughtfully, Regina tips it back and pours herself another, feeling a little uncomfortable as the younger woman regards her intently.

_Not to mention the woman has her bloody knees digging into my ribs._

"Well. As you said this is about _truth._.. I suppose the _truth_  is I never really gave much thought to who you were as a person. Oh, I found you rude and obnoxious. I found you uncouth and wickedly sly. But I never spent any energy on trying to understand you. I just wanted you gone. I used what little knowledge I had and just chose what could be turned against you. As for what any of it meant, I would be lying if I said I cared.

I hated you. All of you. But I didn't really  _know_  you at all. The idea seemed  _terribly_  loathsome."

The brunette finishes, and Emma nods as she takes this all in with a pensive expression but no hint of anger or hurt.

"Either way. Clairvoyance is not something you have shown a knack for, and your super power is hilarious at best. You're asking the  _truth_  from the Evil Queen. I wouldn't think too deeply on any of it."

"You're not the Evil Queen anymore."

"I was at the time, and can tap into that now when irritating blondes embark on physical abuse."

"Huh?"

Emma frowns and Regina pushes her knees out from the curve of her ribs with a dramatic huff. The blonde simply curls up at a different angle, this time with her hip pressing against the Mayor's on the rather cosy sofa but the brunette says nothing, even though she is crucially aware of the younger woman's weight against her.

"As for telling the truth, that all seemed pretty buyable to me. Though, you're right. I suppose Evil you would make a terrible opponent for truth or dare."

"Truth or dare?"

"You know- the game."

"If I knew, would I be asking you with an air of confusion?"

"Regina, you use 'airs' for everything! Truth or dare is a game kids play. And drunken people. One person gets asked if they would rather be asked a truth or a dare, and the other person then gives them one according to their choice. When I was fourteen, I pulled half the skin off the backs of my thighs jumping out of a tree into the big lake a couple of us used to go to. I made the lake- fortunately- but didn't account for the branch a couple of feet below the one I was sat in."

"Why on _earth_  would you jump out of a tree?!"

"Well... Because I was dared to."

Emma explains slowly, as though talking to an imbecile. The brunette regards her pointedly, feeling that the blonde's disdain is ill placed for one that has just admitted to jumping from a tree at idle request.

"And that's fun, is it?"

She asks waspishly, and the younger woman sighs as she leans back into the curve of the sofa and nurses her drink.

"It is when you play with someone that's not such a fucking buzzkill."

Prickling up at this and pondering the sweet burn of the whisky, Regina tosses her hair back and moves around so that she faces Emma directly, with her knees mirroring the cosy tuck of the blonde's.

"Fine. Try me."

"Hmm... I dunno, Regina. I was more just explaining what it was. I don't think you-"

"-I would think my decision to play or not would be  _mine_."

The brunette snaps, and Emma considers this for a moment before grinning with a 'your funeral' shrug of her shoulders. The Mayor smirks back, recognising the familiar fire flickering between them with a curious sense of anticipation. She likes being around the blonde when she's like this. When she balances on the edge between being cheeky and playing by the rules. It is a side of Emma that she has earned, as strange as that might seem to anyone outside of their little bubble. She knows this is something the pirate has picked up on occasionally, although she is unsure Emma is aware of it herself. Similarly, she has felt a queer sense of guilt now and then when in the presence of both Robin and the blonde, as she knows he feels it too. They play off of each other, that is the only way she can describe it.

They... well, they feed off each other. She can describe it  _that_  way too...

"Fine. Do you want to start?"

"It's your game."

"Ok. Truth or dare?"

"Well, knowing what I know about _you_ , dear, I would have to say truth..."

"Hmm... Okay... Was Graham's death really an accident?"

"... I thought you said this was a game? It doesn't seem like it will be all that fun..."

"Well, I was hoping you'd pick a dare... But you have to answer."

"Do I? What if I pass?"

"You  _can't_  pass. You have to tell, those are the rules."

"Hmm. I see no way that you could force me... This game might have been a little more fun in the enchanted forest- a potion for truth and another for cooperation- then those would  _really_  be the rules..."

"I think I'd rather play with full control of my body, I'm afraid."

"And your mouth?"

"... Yeah."

Emma nods after a moment's pause, wishing she could stop Regina's strange-  _and extremely suggestive at times, what is_ with _that?_ \- way of wording things from getting to her like it sometimes does. Studying the full pout of the Mayor's painted lips, she blinks when the brunette interrupts her wary confusion with a quiet admission.

"I had Graham's heart, much like the book said. It is not something I am proud of, nor wish to discuss. I am not that person anymore."

"Oh... No, I know you're not. I just... I just always wondered."

"I'm sorry. For what I did, but also because I know you liked him... Of course, that is also  _why_  I did it."

"To spite me?"

"To spite you, and also because I was jealous."

The brunette conspires truthfully, and the words hang between them awkwardly as the blonde is becoming increasingly aware that the sofa they share really is rather small.

"I know it's not my turn, but I also know if I'd told you at the time you never would have believed me. Graham and I... We didn't... We didn't do what  _you_  guys were doing, put it that way. I'm not saying there wasn't an interest, but from  _me_ , it was more kind of someone I saw as a friend in a town where I was struggling to get a handle on stuff."

"The way he walked off with you that night suggested more."

Regina sniffs, and the blonde nods slowly before replying cautiously

"That was... I kind of knew where he stood with things. I was pissed. Really  _pissed_  at you. When I get angry, I tend to deal with it in  _several_  ways. You've seen most of them... I guess the way I felt like dealing with it that night is a side you've been spared-"

Emma laughs a little awkwardly

"-but, what might have happened that night? That was more because of you than because of Graham."

"I see."

Regina replies quietly, not sure what to do with that information, and the way her mind seems intent on processing it.

"My turn."

Emma prompts to dispel the tension, and the brunette nods as she sips from her glass and licks her lips before imploring

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Hmm..."

The Mayor hesitates, looking around the small apartment dubiously. She has no clue what to tell the younger woman to do as she isn't a teenager or young boy intent on feeding their companion distasteful things found outside.

"I don't know. I don't exactly yearn to watch you plunge off of anything, curious as that might sound given our history."

"Think!"

Emma pushes, and the brunette racks her brains a little uncomfortably. She has not played the game before, but simple understanding of human nature has her accepting that this is a game either for the very young or those with an objective. So far as she can see, the purpose of the dare is either to harm, embarrass or... Well... See a little more of someone. The fact that the thought has entered her mind at  _all_  is something that causes her uncharacteristic disquiet, and she eyes the low V of the blonde's sweater with blood rushing to her cheeks. Averting her eyes, her full lips break into a wicked smile as she swaps her attention from distracting cashmere to red leather.

"The jacket. Burn the jacket."

"Hell no!"

"Your rules, Emma..."

She reminds, although she supposes they both know she'd not force the blonde to go through with that particular request. The thing is hideous-  _truly_  obscene- but she knows enough about Emma to understand it is one of the few items she owns that is of significant sentimental value to her.

Still, it's fun watching her squirm.

"Not doing it. That's  _way_  over the line."

"There's a line? You never mentioned a line while explaining the rules..."

"Ok, well, here's another rule I didn't explain- you can forfeit."

"Yes?... Hmm... seems a bit of a cop out, dear."

"Look, you let me choose what I wanted and I chose dare. So forfeiting to truth is kind of a punishment for me if you think about it."

"I've thought about  _punishing_  you plenty, and yet this fails to whet my appetite."

Regina retorts smartly, not meeting the blonde's eyes as the younger woman's brows raise and she eyes her curiously following this flippant admission.

"Yeah... Well... It's what's on offer. Give me a truth."

"Alright."

The brunette sighs, meeting the blonde's gaze pensively as she decides just how best to use her newly appointed power. Her first thought- and this is a sure sign of how their relationship has changed- is that she doesn't want to pry anywhere that might  _hurt_  the other woman. That said, she supposes Emma had asked her about Graham, which had been a little intense and uncomfortable to say the least.

"What happened?"

"When?"

"When you and Hook went into the book and started messing around in there, you told me you met me as I was back then. You told me I'd 'gone Evil Queen' on you. You wouldn't tell me anything else and I'm curious as to why. I suppose I also wonder what you made of all that. Of me. You asked me what I thought about  _you,_  and now I'm asking you the same."

"Oh... Well, it's not _really_  the same. Not exactly. I liked you plenty by that point, so it was more seeing the negative but knowing the positive than the other way around."

"You're being nice. I asked for the truth."

"Yeah, ok. Truth is, you were a total bitch to me."

Emma growls, and the brunette laughs appreciatively as she can well imagine this to be the case.

"Well, what does that tell you? I had no clue who you were and still you irked me."

"You seemed 'irked' by  _life_ , more than just me!"

"Yes, well..."

"...I know I told you about what happened with Snow..."

"... Yes."

"That was bad. Before that, it was kind of... Amusing in a 'this could all go so wrong if I don't get out of here' way. Only because it was so strange talking to you when you weren't really  _you_. What you made me  _do_  wasn't all that funny."

"What did I make you do?"

Regina asks cautiously; knowing how she had once been and concerned what Emma might be about to tell her.

"You made me kneel for you."

Emma confides with a dark glower, and the brunette's eyes widen at the mental image and she chokes on her drink at the sheer thought.

" _That_  should have been my dare!"

"Oh shut up."

Emma snarls and the Mayor licks her lips subconsciously but says nothing more.

"You had your guards take me down into the dungeons after you took away the fancy ball stuff Rumple gave me."

The blonde explains, but when she mutters something about Marion, Regina barely hears her. She's more focused on the deep blush that colours Emma's cheeks in reference to the taking of her dress, and she wants to ask-  _can_  ask, it's her _go_ , but she doesn't quite dare- just what the circumstances of that change of costume had been. The uncomfortable lowering of otherwise cool green eyes leaves her pretty sure of  _who_  it had been in charge of disrobing the blonde and she averts her own eyes momentarily as she pours herself another whisky.

She finds she suddenly needs it.

"Ok, my turn."

Emma interrupts, and the brunette glances back up and relishes the slightly flustered look the younger woman has taken on, presumably both due to uncomfortable recollection and the strength of the whisky they are doing quite a job on.

"Truth or dare?"

The blonde proposes, meeting her eyes easily and allowing the Mayor private consideration of the way her pupils have blown out.

"Dare."

Regina purrs, aware that she leans in a little to play her part of the tangible atmosphere between them.

"Hmm... Hold out your drink."

"If you spit in it-"

"-I'm not going to spit in it!"

"... You're definitely the type."

"Oh, definitely. But for now you're safe."

Emma promises with a sly grin, and she waits for Regina to hold out her drink apprehensively and pours her own glass into the brunette's until the amber liquid reaches the brim."

"Knock it back."

She orders, and the Mayor looks down at the considerable amount of whisky in her hand and back up at Emma dubiously.

"That seems like a really bad idea."

"Well, according to you, I'm full of them. And anyway, it's only fair- I'm way ahead of you."

"Yes, because you choose to sit on your own and get slowly inebriated."

Regina snaps, and the blonde refuses to rise to the bait as she sarks back easily

"Mmmhmmm, yes, and now I'm telling  _you_  to become  _quickly_  inebriated."

"Why? How is that even a fun dare?"

"I guess I must just want you drunk, Regina."

Emma grins. A wicked grin; promising something, but what, the Mayor isn't quite sure. It's a  _pretty_  grin though, and she has the overwhelming urge to reach forward and push back an errant strand of hair that tickles the blonde's cheek.

Getting a hold of herself, she tips back the whisky as asked; shuddering visibly as it burns down her throat. She gets almost half the glass down in her first swallow, and she regards the rest with watering eyes before glancing at Emma briefly.

Pleadingly.

"All of it."

The blonde urges, but she laughs lightly and gives the Mayor a moment to pull herself together before finishing the glass.

" _Oh_ , that goes down strong."

The brunette laments, feeling a little dazed as her tongue burns in a way that isn't wholly unpleasant.

"It does."

Emma agrees, refilling her own glass and sipping at it leisurely as she watches Regina try and get her breath back.

"All good?"

She smirks, and the brunette throws her a dirty look before reaching out without warning and nudging the younger woman's glass as she drinks. Emma yelps in surprise as Regina causes a quick river of dangerous amber to course down her throat, both in the way she'd likely intended, and spilling down in thin freshets to splatter her clavicles.

" _Regina!_ "

Emma chokes, and the brunette shows her teeth wickedly while inwardly surprised she'd instigated such horseplay at all.

"You've got some on your jaw."

"I've got some all  _over_  me! What was  _that_  for?!"

The blonde cries, although she can't dispel the electric excitement that has her wanting to get the brunette back and make her pay for her little trick.

"I can think of so many,  _many_  reasons..."

The Mayor muses, watching Emma wipe away spilt liquor and wondering if she should help her out when a missed streak glistens prettily in the hollow of her throat. She meets the blonde's dark look easily and holds her there for what is really too long to still be considered polite.

"It's your turn."

She reminds quietly.

"Truth or dare, Emma?"

"Dare."

The younger woman answers with a defiant raising of her jaw.

"Are you sure?"

"Leave the jacket out of it and I can handle you, Regina."

Emma nods brazenly.

"As you wish. Kiss me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, this was supposed to be a one or two shot, but I guess so long as you guys keep liking it, I will see what happens! It's all in the reviews :p Enjoy :)

_"Kiss Me."_

"Wh-what?"

The blonde asks, freezing with her glass halfway to her lips. She keeps her face carefully expressionless, and Regina is sure she's trying to decide if she's heard her correctly.

"Kiss me."

"... Why?"

"Because. It's your go. And I'm daring you to."

The brunette lays out slowly, speaking as though this really should be embarrassingly obvious to the younger woman, even though her own heart is hammering away nervously in her throat. She's unsure whether this is a good idea. In fact, it almost certainly isn't.

But, that doesn't  _change_ the fact that after her last- and rather dangerous- shot of whisky and the sense of tension that sits so thickly between them now it's tangible she... Well she  _wants_  Emma to do it.

After all. It's _her_  game.

"I..."

But Emma trails off into silence. She's not quite sure  _what_  to say. What to think. A part of her is completely taken aback by the Mayor's brazen request, but another part of her... Another part of her isn't as surprised as she probably should be. Hesitating uncertainly, she keeps her eyes locked with the brunette's challengingly; Regina's gaze fiery and intense.

Leaning forward wordlessly, the blonde places her glass on the table, before offering the Mayor one long final assessing glance and leaning towards her.

She brushes her lips against Regina's softly; nothing sordid, but nor is it just a quick peck for the sake of the game. She doesn't pull away, but merely keeps her lips moulded feather light against the brunette's, who swallows audibly as the younger woman's breath- fluttering rapidly- whispers against her cheek. The way they sit, Emma has pushed herself up almost so that she kneels, leaning over the Mayor as she plays out her request.

Without thought, the darker woman reaches out and rests her hand lightly at the blonde's waist, and when this is met by pale fingers threading themselves into her hair, she negates to think  _again_  and captures the Sheriff's lower lip suggestively. A small tug from Emma's fingers- deviant, not cruel- and the younger woman reciprocates by asking more pointedly for entrance. Regina allows her it immediately, the hand- trembling ever so slightly- against the firm plane of the blonde's stomach slipping slowly further up her body as each tastes the other experimentally.

The battle for dominance is more of a polite, velvet parlay as the absurdity of the situation hangs over them like a storm cloud.

Making a small noise in the back of her throat when Emma changes the angle of her assault, Regina slips her wandering hand around the younger woman more firmly and pulls her in. The blonde yelps in surprise as her left leg slips off of the narrow sofa and she lands to straddle the Mayor's knees awkwardly. The majority of her weight now presses down on the brunette as the latter lies with her shoulders pinned against the armrest of the sofa and a shocked expression mirroring Emma's own as this new position is entirely more suggestive than their impish game previously.

"Sorry."

Emma mumbles, leaning back and regarding the brunette sheepishly. Her breathing is short and shallow, and the darkness of her eyes isn't masked by their shy refusal to meet Regina's own.

"It's... it's ok.

The Mayor whispers throatily, her body tight and rigid with discomfort but her cheeks flared with a telling blush.

"You can get off me, dear."

"Oh, uh, yeah!"

The blonde agrees, almost jumping from the sofa in her eagerness to comply.

"Well... Looks like you won."

Regina offers as she turns herself around and sits stiffly beside Emma, who has curled up into such a tight ball it looks as though she might be hoping to disappear somehow.

"Naturally."

The younger woman scoffs, though she remains intent to look anywhere but at the Mayor.

"Yes, well..."

The brunette begins awkwardly, before a sharp rap at the door offers her a merciful escape from trying to find words to suit what just happened between them. She waits expectantly, but the Sheriff simply looks from the door and back to her as though unsure what to do.

"Well, go on then. It's  _your_  apartment!"

"Oh. Yeah."

Emma agrees and she pushes herself up and pads stiffly to the door. Opening it up, she stands frozen for a second, wondering if the blood has run from her face the way it might do if she were a cartoon drawn in this situation.

"...Hi."

"Hey, Emma."

Robin greets her amiably, and she hopes the expression she offers him in return is a smile or at least something in that broad spectrum as her face feels suddenly numb.

"Is Regina here?"

"She's... I... She-"

"-Hello."

The brunette greets in her customary sultry tone, coming up behind Emma and giving her a gentle push to the side so that she'll stop blocking the door.

"Everything sorted?"

"Yup. Stick hut lesson taught, tents up, fire crackling and emergency phone handed over. I think I just missed a couple of campfire songs before bed."

He grins, and Regina rolls her eyes while Emma mutters he's lucky to have gotten out so lightly.

"Oh, I don't know. It was a lot of fun! And Roland was thrilled to be allowed to tag along."

"Rather you than me."

The blonde shrugs, and Regina nods as she chips in

"Miss Swan and I are- for once- in agreement."

She catches the strange look Emma offers her and purses her lips with a small furrowing of her brow before turning away.

"You ladies drinking?"

"Only a little."

Regina informs immediately, and the Sheriff nods automatically as she picks uncomfortably at a loose thread on her jeans.

"Am I interrupting?"

Robin smiles, sensing an odd form of tension in the room despite each woman's strangely breezy attitude. He grits his teeth through his grin, wondering suddenly if he's walked into an argument. If so, he has no inclination to stay. Since joining the strange group he has come to call his allies, he has witness several blowouts between Regina and Emma, most disturbingly following the blonde's accidental saving of Marion (not Marion). That said, they have seemed to get over various quarrels in their own peculiar way for the most part. He has heard how it _had_  been though, and he would rather not have to play witness to any real drama. The sparks between the Queen and the Saviour seem deadly at the best of times, what with the looks the two offer each other.

"No."

"Not at all."

An immediate response, and he reciprocates Regina's smile merrily enough.

"I was just leaving."

The brunette states, and she stalks to the door- her sharp heels sounding a forbidding beat- to collect her coat. She does all of this without looking at Emma, who in turn seems enthralled in the sliver of moonlight peeking through the curtains.

"You sure? I only came looking because I figured what with Henry gone, we-"

"-Yes. I know. I'm sure."

The Mayor interrupts swiftly, and she buttons herself up before turning to Emma, suddenly extremely aware of Robin's hand on her arm.

"Well, thank you for the drink."

"It's cool. Have a good night."

"... You too."

And with that, an awkward silence lingers between them as a complex look is exchanged, before Regina and Robin let themselves out and make their way down the stairs and out into the street.

"Are you ok?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

The brunette asks lightly, and the long ago thief shrugs and smiles and reaches for her hand.

"Just checking... And Emma?"

"What about Emma?"

"She seemed a little... Odd, I suppose."

"You've only just noticed that Miss Swan is odd?"

"You know what I mean."

"... No. I can't say that I do. I haven't a clue."

* * *

"Hi, love."

Hook grins as he lets himself into the blonde's apartment. He's come with some rum, knowing that for once they have the place to themselves, but she appears to have made quite a foray into inebriation of her own accord on the whisky front.

"Oh. Hey."

She nods, before going back to frowning down at her glass as though in deep concentration.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

She asks, mirroring Regina's own rebuttal without knowing it.

"You tell me. You look troubled."

"Do I? I guess I was just thinking about some stuff. Nothing to worry about."

"... Would you tell me if there was?"

"Of course."

Emma replies, and she guesses they both know she's full of it. She's been doing better, she really has. She's been trying hard. But the fact still stands that apart from Henry, she tends not to tell the others more than the bare minimum of what's on her mind. With Hook, it's more of a conscious effort, but she  _has_  been trying. After all, some of the issues one faces in life aren't the sort to be discussed with a child or your estranged parents.

_There's always been Regina._

"Enough."

She hisses, before glancing up uncomfortably as she can feel the pirate's confused gaze boring into her.

"Sorry, just thinking."

"And arguing with yourself."

He points out, a small smirk only just hidden as he takes a seat beside her on the sofa.

"Did you have company?"

He asks, noting the extra glass.

"Oh. Yeah. Regina came over for a little while."

"Oh. I didn't know you two made a habit of drinking together?"

He asks, and there is a note of tension in his tone, but he tells himself not to be an idiot. He's just never quite forgotten the way Emma had almost entirely blanked him once they'd found their way out of the damned storybook in favour of struggling to make amends with Regina following the Marion Mistake. He'd understood at first, after all, what  _else_  would happen when you started dating the Saviour- the good, the nice, the 'hero'. But, it had grown old pretty quick. They'd been in a good place- a great place- and then Emma had acted as though he'd barely existed in favour of traipsing around after the Mayor like some sorry little puppy willing to get scolded and kicked at her mistress's whim.

It had been strange. That's all.

Emma and Regina  _are_  strange when they're together. He's always thought so.

_Aye. But let's not bring that up again. Previous mentions of why that might be have been a sure way to earn an impressively chilly shoulder._

"We don't make a habit of drinking together."

Emma sighs.

_Seems like that's probably a good thing..._

"I see. Did you have a good time though?"

"... Yes. I did... Did you?"

"Do you  _want_  to know?"

"Probably not."

She grins, lightening up considerably. He smirks in return and proffers her his hip flask as he throws his arm around her shoulders. She seems to think about it for a moment, before accepting the offer and nipping at the rum quietly, licking it from her lips with an appreciative smile.

"Hey, are you wearing lipstick?"

Hook asks in surprise; the blonde very occasionally donning obvious makeup, but never without occasion.

"No?"

"Yes you are. Your lips are all red. It looks nice."

"Oh... I... I was just experimenting I guess."

* * *

Standing outside the Station with her arms crossed over her chest, Regina frowns indecisively. The streetlights cast a hazy yellow glow over the currently vacant street as the sky looms a dark purple, not quite black. The main lights are off; the front facing windows dark like blind, unseeing eyes. Emma's bug is in the small parking lot however, and a dim beam of light shines onto the gravel to the side of the building overlooked by the inner office.

Sighing resolutely, she stalks up the steps and tries the door. She finds it open, and makes her way down the eerily dark hall towards the office.

Knocking once, she lets herself in, surprising the blonde who sits balancing on the back legs of her chair trying to do strange things with her hair and a pen.

Lowering the chair down onto all fours slowly, Emma pulls the biro out of her long curls to let them fall heavily back into place. She places the pen neatly in front of her with careful precision before looking back up into pretty, dark eyes and putting on a mask of cool composure.

"Hey."

"Hello."

"What are you doing here?"

"I... Can we talk?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Chapter 3 of probably 4, possibly more. Sorry it's a bit late, had a garden fence emergency. Hope you enjoy :) (Ps. I don't have anything at all against CS, OQ or any other ships, this is just an experiment to explore one of the ways I think SQ might be possible- if not on ABC and done completely differently- in the current circumstances portrayed by the show) Reviews would be awesome!

_"I... Can we talk?"_

"... Sure."

Emma offers after a long pause, shrugging slim shoulders in an attempt to appear as though she might believe the Mayor is here strictly on business.

"What about?"

"You  _know_  what about."

Regina hisses irritably, clenching her fists in the pockets of her coat as she studies the younger woman uncomfortably. The blonde nibbles at her bottom lip as she lowers her eyes and her posture becomes stiff. Defensive.

"Okay. What is there to talk about? Why do we need to-"

"-Look, I don't  _want_  to be here, ok?"

The brunette interrupts with a strained pull to her mouth.

"So why  _are_  you here?"

Emma asks, looking back up into arresting dark coals and adopting a defiant expression that the Mayor remembers well from when they had fought with one another daily. Matching it momentarily with a fiery look of warning, she eventually simmers down with a low sigh and attempts a different approach.

"Because... I've been thinking about... It... All day. What we did was incredibly stupid. It was childish and absurd. And... And-"

"-And we'd been drinking."

The Sheriff reminds quietly, and Regina nods vehemently as she locks in with cool green.

"Yes. We had."

She agrees gratefully.

"I mean... Clearly what happened isn't a big _deal_ , it was just an incident of inebriated foolishness that I'm sure plenty of people get up to now and again."

"Sure, I guess so. It wasn't even that  _bad_ , you know? It's hardly worth even _calling_  an 'incident'."

"Right. It was just a small mistake."

"Could have happened to anyone."

"Indeed."

Regina nods, her brow furrowing as she strives to find something else to say. Emma offers her a similarly uncertain expression and asks timidly

"As you  _are_  here though, and we _are_  talking about it... Can we not... I mean, we don't have to  _tell_  anyone, right?"

"Of course not! As you said- it was nothing! Not even worth mentioning! I just wanted to check we were on the same page!"

"Right."

"About thinking it was nothing. About not being bothered by it at all."

"Yeah."

Emma nods.

"Good."

Regina agrees, hesitating awkwardly as she recognises her cue to leave. Watching as the blonde lowers her attention purposefully back down to the papers on her desk, she turns for the door before looking back over her shoulder with a frown

"...When you said it 'wasn't that bad'... What did you-"

But she trails off as Emma looks up at her slowly, her jaw set and her eyes wary as she swallows. Waiting for an answer and receiving nothing but the intense heat of the blonde's attention, Regina turns back hesitantly and takes a couple of steps towards the desk.

"Emma, what happened- it isn't something we can... I mean we can't... I don't..."

She tries, losing track of her words with each new attempt to address the issue, and oh hell, she really is standing rather close now.

"I don't either..."

Emma replies breathlessly, pushing herself up so that she stands face to face with the Mayor, the desk a safety zone between them.

"I'm not... I mean, I have Hook, and you have Robin, and I'm not..."

She continues, watching the brunette raptly as the latter stalks around the desk, feeling a little like prey caught in a trap and finding she doesn't entirely mind.

"Yes. Exactly. We're not...That _thing_  that happens between us, that, I don't know-"

"-Electricity-"

"-Tension. That's... It's..."

"It's nothing."

"Exactly, dear. It's nothing."

The brunette agrees, before stepping forwards and closing the distance between them. Unlike back in the blonde's apartment where their explorations had been tentative- possibly even  _polite_ \- this is rough and raw; teeth skimming parted lips and panted breath becoming shared.

"Ah!"

The younger woman grunts as the Mayor pushes her into the cold iron bars of one of the cells none too gently. She only stops for a beat however, before hooking one arm around the brunette's neck while her free hand wanders beneath the soft wool of the latter's coat.

Regina smirks against the hollow of the blonde's throat, relishing the choked sound earned from the woman she had once sought so hard to destroy. She doesn't mind Emma now- actually, really quite _likes_  Emma now- but there is still something beautiful in being able to garner just a little discomfort from the idiot Saviour's tongue.

Speaking of...

Deepening their kiss with a sense of urgency, the brunette wraps her fingers around the cell's bars, effectively keeping the younger woman pinned in place with her own lithe form as pale fingers fist at the luxurious satin of her shirt under the cover of her coat.

The words 'it's nothing' flash hazily through her mind and she bites experimentally at the hard bow of the blonde's collarbone to earn herself a husky chuckle into her hair.

" _Knew_  you'd do that..."

Emma confides breathlessly, and she succeeds in pulling the brunette's shirt out from the confines of her pants and slips her hand up to explore hot, bare flesh; dragging lightly with her nails and not at all surprised when the weight of the Mayor pinning her to the bars increases warningly, accompanied by an irritable hiss. Deciding that this is a  _perfect_  reason to do it again, the younger woman yelps as Regina reciprocates in kind; plunging a hand up the blonde's top and raking her nails down taut flesh punishingly.

"Ouch!"

Emma grumbles without making much of an attempt to break away as the darker woman's lips crash against hers hungrily. She catches the telling shaking of laughter, before being completely thrown off guard when cruel fingers trail lower and slip into the tight confines of her jeans; not going any further, but rather resting between hot skin and rough denim with their tips pushing at the narrow barrier of her underwear.

She opens her mouth in surprise, although to say what, she doesn't really know. Probably just the Mayor's name.

Whether she means to inject the word with shock or warning is something she hasn't quite decided on.

Perhaps with desire.

In the end, she's spared her decision as the shrill ring of the phone on her desk pierces the air and causes them both to jump. She looks over at the accusatory handset with a dazed scowl, Regina peering over her shoulder to glower at it in tandem. A red blinking light accompanies the wailing ringtone, before finally the monstrous thing switches over to voicemail. A tinny recording of the Sheriff's voice tells whoever's on the line to leave a message and keep it brief- a snort of derision at this from the Mayor- before a click invites the caller to speak.

"You there, Swan?"

Hook's voice greets them, obscenely loud. Emma makes a small noise in her throat as she meets the brunette's eyes slowly, Regina watching her intently as she remains pressed against her and pinning her in place.

Lack of an answer doesn't deter the pirate as he launches into a one sided conversation about what time she might decide to call it a night and whether she would like to do so in his room at Granny's. The brunette raises an eyebrow at this- a slow smile creeping across her lips- as she stays put and waits to see what Emma means to do. When the blonde simply remains as she is, her breathing audible and her body rigid, the Mayor leans forward slyly and brushes at her lips. A divine feeling of heat rushes up to color her cheeks as she does so, feeling positively evil in all the best ways. She tells herself she'll move if the Sheriff tells her to and not let it come to force (she has no intention to get shoved around by the blonde as she knows it's not a battle she's apt to win, nor something she would enjoy) but until that happens, she's going to make the most of this situation. Sure, she'd come here to try and straighten things out between the two of them, but this... Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting, and it turns out that the sparks flying between them may not be 'nothing' after all.

She knows that she's playing with fire, but she always  _has_  enjoyed the thrill of dodging the burn when it comes to Emma.

"Regina..."

The blonde mutters quietly against playful nips, finally saying the brunette's name, but sounding more uncertain than anything else. Hook's message continues to surround them like warning smoke, and she grits her teeth as she tries to comprehend why in the hell anyone would leave such a stupidly long message.

_I mean, really! What the hell?_

Becoming ever more bold as she plays with the Sheriff, hoping both to distract her and at the same time revelling in the danger of their situation, Regina inches her fingers a little lower; slipping below the barrier of the younger woman's underwear and earning herself a choked expletive.

"Regina... We shouldn't..."

The blonde whispers huskily, and the Mayor stops with her distracting assault to Emma's lips and studies her intently, keeping her fingers where they are as she has yet to be told to 'no' or to stop. She waits for the blonde to say either of these things, but is met only with a conflicted expression and equal fire.

Glancing once more at the phone on the Sheriff's desk, Regina goes back in, this time chafing her teeth lightly down the younger woman's throat as she pushes devilish fingers fully into the tellingly damp confines of the blonde's underwear. Her own assertiveness surprises her, at least in their current situation. To have acknowledged the strange pull the Sheriff has over her is one thing, and perhaps she _has_  imagined what it would be like to shut the blonde up using her own tongue once or twice, but  _this_?  _This_  is a whole other level. This is dangerous.

"Let me know, love. I would wager we might get up to a little more fun sharing a drink than offered by the May-"

"Ah!"

Emma yelps in shock as the pirate's concluding statement is accompanied by the brunette making good of her recent threat; dipping sly fingers where she really shouldn't and biting down hard as though in reprimand.

"Fuck..."

The blonde's eloquent commentary of the situation continues, and her hands rest indecisively against soft flesh- debating whether to push the Mayor away- before holding on tight and pulling the brunette into her with a barely discernible nod.

Regina doesn't catch the younger woman's possible encouragement, but she takes her cue from the lack of resistance her ever more intimate exploration is met with and begins to work in the way that best satisfies her own needs; playing by ear and liking what she hears.

Feeling breathless herself, she quickens the pace to match the blonde's shallow panting as pale lips find her own once more; their kiss clumsy but keen.

A low click to alert them that the call has been ended but by this point neither one of them is paying any attention.

Feeling lightheaded, both with complete shock and delectable pleasure, Emma pulls her hands out from the confines of the brunette's coat and embraces her shakily, burying her face against the darker woman's neck as she goes over. This strangely affectionate move catches Regina off guard and she slows her assault gradually as she feels the younger woman quaking against her, completely stunned at what she's just done.

Instinct has her wanting to step back and run from the situation immediately, and it takes all of her will to go against it. To go against her urge to snap at the Sheriff furiously and throw this entire ordeal on her. Instead, she simply stands stiffly with one hand curled loosely around the iron bar beside the blonde's mussed curls and the other slipped awkwardly from tight black jeans and hovering uncertainly at her side.

"Didn't know you were gonna do  _that_ , though..."

Emma mumbles against her collarbone, and to Regina's  _complete_  surprise, the younger woman laughs. Even  _more_  to her absolute amazement, she finds herself joining in; laughing dazedly as she takes a step back- just one- and releases the Sheriff from her seductive prison.

"That was... That was..."

Regina starts, her brow furrowing anxiously as she's at a complete loss as to what happens now.

"...You're already here. Might as well decide what it was _now_  and save yourself another trip."

Emma mocks breathlessly, and dark eyes widen with outraged disbelief, before the brunette shakes her head and laments huskily

"Oh, you are just the  _worst_  kind of person, Miss Swan."

"Yeah, I know."

Emma grins, but it is a strained expression as she glances once more at the phone on the desk.

"... I can't believe we just did that."

She murmurs worriedly, and Regina swallows as she supposes she's not entirely innocent when she leaves the confines of the Station either.

"It was... Just a foolish mistake. It's not a big deal."

She attempts, and Emma nods slowly as she straightens her top back over her jeans and strives to tame her hair.

"Right. It was nothing."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok, definitely more than 4 chapters then! Please enjoy and please review! :)

The following week goes by in a series of awkward and rushed encounters. The Mayor seems suddenly to have other things to do with her spare time than to drop in on the Sheriff unannounced, and the younger woman herself seems to have taken a new and rather keen interest in helping Hook find a way of reclaiming his ship. Their interactions have been strained and unusually formal, and yet that old flame that had once flickered warningly between them burns brighter than ever.

By Friday afternoon, it's fixing to engulf them whole.

"Emma, we're headed over to Granny's to start setting things up for Leroy's birthday. We didn't do invitations as all of us know when and where it is, but I guess that might not be true for Regina... I'm sure she has a _million_  things she'd  _rather_  do, but I guess one of us should invite her as a formality. You know how she can be about that kind of thing. Will you go and let her know on your way to pick up the cake?"

Mary Margaret asks, furrowing her pale brow and tapping sternly at the blonde's neatly crossed ankles as the latter lounges lazily on one of the cots in the Station. Emma cracks open one eye and regards her mother warily.

"Why me?"

"Well, if you  _haven't_  noticed, the rest of us are busy!"

The schoolteacher scolds amiably, nodding over towards David who is busy arguing with the jurrasic-aged printer in the office in an attempt to get it to spit out some decorations.

"What did you guys even look up? Dwarf interests?"

The younger woman grumbles as she rolls unceremoniously over onto her side in the arduous struggle of getting up.

"I searched for fishing pictures."

Snow informs her, and Emma raises a brow as she pushes herself the right way up and strives to tame her hair.

"Fishing? Really?"

"Really."

Mary Margaret grins, before wincing when I few choice words come floating over from the office.

"You have to thump it!"

Emma calls out helpfully, before returning to the issue at hand.

"Seriously, why do I have to go  _over_  to Regina's? Can't I just call her?"

"No, because then you wouldn't be able to give her these at the same time."

Snow instructs, handing over the papers previously dropped off by the Mayor, now bearing neat flourishes at the bottom where she's signed them off.

"Oh."

The blonde sighs, seeing no way she can argue her way out of her predicament without drawing attention to her disinclination to go and visit the brunette all of a sudden. After all, before their little game up in the apartment, she'd made almost as much of a habit of dropping in on the Mayor without reason as Regina had done to her.

"Okay."

She agrees finally, and she takes the papers from Mary Margaret and shrugs on her jacket stiffly. Pulling the long sheaf of her ponytail out from its trap beneath the collar, she checks herself in the hazy reflection offered by the glass of the window before catching the schoolteacher watching her curiously.

"What?"

She demands gruffly, and Snow shrugs with a look of surprise.

"Nothing."

She assures swiftly; thrown off by the strange note of defensiveness in the younger woman's voice. Watching Emma stalk out, she shrugs before heading over to help David conquer what passes as the Station's technology.

* * *

"Hi."

Emma greets as she lets herself into the Mayor's office, and Regina looks up from her work, startled, and narrows her eyes.

"Don't you knock?"

"Sorry."

The blonde shrugs awkwardly, and the darker woman opens her mouth to further scold the Sheriff before deciding this might be dangerous territory.

She has always so  _enjoyed_  sniping at the younger woman after all.

"What do you want?"

She asks instead, and Emma hesitates for a moment in the doorway as she lets this question resonate between them damningly, before taking a few tentative steps towards the brunette's desk.

"Mary Margaret asked me to give these to you."

She explains, handing over the papers, and Regina holds out her palm to accept them with a wooden nod.

"Thank you."

"I also came to ask if you wanted to come to Leroy's birthday thingy with me... Well, not  _with_  me, but... Well. Yes. I guess it would be with me. At the same time as me."

"Smooth."

The brunette sighs, and Emma pulls a face as she shrugs once more- not sure what else to do.

"I think I might have  _better_  ways to spend my time."

Regina continues loftily, and the younger woman nods as she shoves her hands into her jeans' pockets uncomfortably.

"Yeah. I figured you might."

"I'm surprised  _you're_  going. I didn't know you were particularly  _close_  to any of the dwarves."

"Well... I kind of have to. Cos my mom and all."

"Of course. What a good little girl you are, dear."

"Quit it."

"Never."

"And Leroy's alright."

"Yes, I suppose you two do share elements of the same temperament."

"Seriously, Regina..."

Emma warns.

"Yes, Miss Swan. Seriously."

The darker woman smirks.

"...I said I'd pick up a cake, and there's going to be drinks."

The blonde explains irritably, and Regina smiles as she shakes her head with an expression of disdain.

"You are so two-dimensional."

"Are you _really_  looking for a fight?"

Emma goads, and the brunette leans forward as she makes to snap back coquettishly, before catching herself in the act. Musing on the Sheriff's words cautiously, she sits back in her chair and crosses her arms with a sigh.

"I suppose that wouldn't be wise..."

She answers quietly, realising that she really  _had_  been looking for some sort of fire and wrath from the younger woman; having missed her smart retorts this week.

Studying Emma with a frown, she meets the blonde's eyes for a moment, supposing that the confused uncertainty the Sheriff does a poor job of hiding exists in spades behind her own mask of superiority. Lowering her gaze, she takes in brash red leather over a simple white button down shirt and the same black jeans she'd explored so candidly back in the Station. The obscure-  _and unwarranted!_ \- thought that she never got a chance to even discover the color of the blonde's underwear in spite of roaming around in its confines comes to her out of the blue and she clears her throat uncomfortably as she feels hot blood rush to her cheeks. Waiting for Emma to take her leave and sighing defeatedly when she doesn't, she addresses the blonde quietly.

"Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No."

The Sheriff answers immediately with a teenage toss of her hair, sending tumbling gold swishing coyly behind her. Suffering the silence that follows, tense shoulders droop as Emma continues more tentatively

"I keep waiting."

"... For what?"

The brunette replies cautiously, aware that she's holding her breath and telling herself to quit it.

"To feel guilty."

Emma answers after a long pause, and the Mayor has to lean forwards in her seat in order to catch what is little more than a whisper. She  _does_  catch it though, and she raises an eyebrow in surprise before letting out a low, audible breath.

"You don't?"

"I know I _should_."

"I'm not _asking_  if you should. I'm asking if you  _do_?"

"Do you?"

"I..."

Regina searches for an answer but comes up short. She can't find a way to word how she feels. She supposes she _had_  felt a little guilty, but not as severely as she possibly  _should_. It's something  _else_  too, though.

It had been her.

It had been her instigating, but Emma not telling her to stop.

She can't word it in a way that sounds reasonable even in her own mind, so she certainly isn't going to try and attempt to explain it to Emma. The words that come to mind when trying to put across her feelings on the matter sound accusatory, and that's really not the case. She supposes what it comes down to is that the old part of herself that has always worked to displace blame feels that Emma's 'benefiting' from events puts her more at fault than she is herself. She knows this is neither fair nor accurate, but she can't shake the notion just the same.

"I'm confused about how I feel."

She states eventually, meaning it in so many more ways than one. To her surprise Emma lets out a short bark of laughter before grinning with obvious relief.

"Thank fuck for that!"

The blonde states and she offers a tentative smile.

"Sorry. I know that's not helpful. I'm just glad it's not just  _me_."

"You're confused?"

Regina asks slowly, knowing that while  _she_  might have many thoughts going through her head, Emma's own point of contention is quite clear in this instance.

"... Yes."

The younger woman admits, and she walks further into the room with a quick raising of her brow as though asking if she's permitted to do so. Uncrossing her arms in an attempt to appear slightly less forbidding, Regina lays her hands out on the desk and sits stiffly as she allows the blonde's approach. When Emma gets to the desk, she moves around to perch on it and look down at the Mayor from her slightly elevated position, as she has done countless times before.

I _t's never been like this, though. Before we've been discussing work. Henry. Her parents or mine. It's never been like this._

Regina swallows as her eyes remain fixed with the Sheriff's as the latter sits in a way that seems obscenely casual given the situation.

 _Casual, but so nicely. I never scolded her for sitting on the desk when she first decided it would be appropriate to do so because she looked nice like that. I don't think I was even fully_  aware _of that assessment at the time, but I know I didn't_ mind _..._

No. She hadn't minded. She has never  _once_  told the younger woman off for sitting as she does now, and she supposes she can answer Emma's previous question about guilt more easily now as she recalls snapping at Robin for perching on her desk exactly as the blonde now does little more than a week ago.

And oh, lord, she can smell the sweet almond of her shampoo from here.

"I never understood it before."

Emma sighs as she adopts an almost childish expression of shy distress.

"Understood what?"

Regina asks, striving to acquire a relaxed, almost businesslike tone and missing the mark by a long shot.

"What it  _was_  about you. What it was about you that just drove me fucking crazy! I mean,  _lots_  of people irritate me, and you're not  _even_  the first person to full on _threaten_  me... Fortunately you  _are_  the only one to attempt to poison me, though... But, all of that bitching and snarling at each other we've done? I shared a cell. I've been there. I've done that. I've shared a bedroom with three angry teenagers and an office with four incredibly territorial men. Someone wanting to get rid of me? I'm pretty damn well acquainted with that! With _you_ , though... It's always been different. There was always this spark. I guess once things fell into place around here with the book and the curse and everything I considered the possibility that it might be, well, magic... I actually really hoped that it  _was_... I never  _allowed_  myself to consider the alternative."

"... And what  _was_  the alternative?"

The brunette breathes, feeling trapped in the Sheriff's earnest stare. She has always found this habit- this trait- of Emma's unsettling. The blonde seldom lets people in, but when she does, she has a way of showing not just her secrets, but her vulnerability. It's written all over her face, and the days when this maliciously pleased the darker woman have long since passed. Now, it gives her a peculiar feeling low in her gut. A warm feeling.

"That I liked you."

Emma murmurs quietly, and the Mayor swallows silently before challenging stiffly

"You've told me  _plenty_  of times since the curse broke that you liked me"

"I don't mean it like that."

"Then what _do_  you mean?"

Regina asks, knowing the answer, but not knowing how to deal with this situation. The only way she has _ever_  been able to deal with an uncomfortable situation is to make the other person feel lower than she does herself, and she thinks for a moment she's succeeded when Emma blinks and errs awkwardly- clearly having hoped she wouldn't have to spell it out- before the blonde finds another way of answering the question.

Leaning a little clumsily over the desk, any lack of grace is quickly forgotten as she kisses the brunette firmly, almost as though she has a point to prove. Regina lets out a noise that is born both of surprise and anticipation as she grips the curved armrests of her chair and closes her eyes. She permits Emma to deepen the kiss hesitantly but without regret, and makes a slightly more affirmative moan against pale lips when the Sheriff pulls herself around and up onto the desk properly so that she kneels on its hard surface (and several forgotten documents). She in turn pushes herself up so that she stands just a little taller, her hand finding the blonde's jaw and keeping her in place.

"I mean that I like you..."

Emma murmurs against full lips, and the brunette nods as she takes her turn in initiating their kiss, injecting her own brand of dominance as she pushes the blonde back a little.

"I always knew you were bad news..."

She sighs as she tugs lightly at the younger woman's hair, winding it around her fist and clenching experimentally.

"You've certainly accused me of it enough times."

Emma agrees, finding the small of the Mayor's back and digging in her nails to earn a hiss and a nip of perfect teeth.

"I suppose those claims could now be justified."

Regina taunts, pushing at red leather to guide the blonde's jacket off of slim shoulders. It catches at the younger woman's wrist, and the brunette tugs at it aggressively before tossing it carelessly onto the floor.

"Might as well make them count."

The Sheriff nods, her hand slipping a little lower and pulling the Mayor hard against the desk.

"You are  _bad_  news, Miss Swan."

The darker woman reiterates, starting at the top of the five out of seven buttons the blonde had done up on her shirt and ruining her handiwork with a series deft flourishes of her wrist. Her previous musing about being denied knowledge of the younger woman's underwear comes to mind, and she assesses the delicate green cups of the Sheriff's bra peaking coyly from between wings of white cotton, before stripping Emma of her shirt entirely and letting it fall discarded onto her chair.

Tracing her nails teasingly up exposed flesh, she throws her head back with a small hiss of encouragement when the blonde grazes her teeth gently down her throat and begins to return the recent favour with a coy tug at the zipper hidden in the side of her skirt.

"Emma, this is going to-"

But she stops. Frozen.

The blonde stiffens up in kind, muttering a breathless 'shit!' as a low pounding sounds on the door.

Snapping out of her horrified stupor, the brunette makes a move to shove the Sheriff off of her desk, before realising the compromising state she's currently in. Grabbing a hold of her arm with bruising force, she yanks at her instead; pulling her up and over the desk before pushing her down none too gently.

"Get under there now!"

She hisses at Emma, who- although slightly dazed- can't help but feel she's being punished for what is about to become an excruciatingly uncomfortable situation on Regina's behalf.

"Ok, ok! Quit pushing me!"

She grumbles, feeling hatefully sheepish as she crawls awkwardly into the small cubby beneath the Mayors desk.

"Ouch."

She mutters irritably as the brunette's knee knocks her unceremoniously in the shoulder, and she bites back a yelp as Regina kicks her warningly, before holding her breath when the door opens.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Are you busy?"

"Just working..."

Regina replies breezily.

"Well, I won't keep you long. I just wanted to run something by you..."

And, underneath the desk, Emma groans silently and closes her eyes as Robin launches into an entirely uncalled for indepth discussion.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Uh oh! Also, I may have painted Robin slightly oblivious to the obvious in this scene, but I suppose in his eyes, there's no comprehending the very idea of the situation, so, I've gone with it. Hope you enjoy, and please review! :)

"Are you not heading down to Granny's?"

Robin asks as he lets himself into the Mayor's office and smiles at the brunette.

"I hadn't planned on it, no."

"You know you  _should_... You're always saying you don't believe the others mean it sincerely when they ask you to come along to things, but then you refuse to show up to find out."

He reminds patiently, and Regina glowers at him irritably, really hoping he'll leave their previous private discussions at  _that_ , given her current hidden company. Of course, things are never that easy, and the long ago archer carries on obliviously as he scratches at his scruff thoughtfully.

"Snow says Emma was on her way over here to ask you to come over to Leroy's thing. I thought you'd at least agree to it if it was  _Emma_  asking."

"What's _that_  supposed to mean?"

She asks waspishly, biting her tongue as she can feel the younger woman moving position in the cramped space between her legs and the back of the desk, and almost _certain_  the idiot will be smirking down there.

"Well, weren't you saying just the other day that you enjoyed her c-"

"-I'm busy."

Regina interupts, gritting her teeth as playful fingers skitter up the bare flesh of her calf tauntingly.

She imagines that if she gives the Sheriff the brutal kick she would really quite like to right now, their game might be up.

"Well, even if you decide you don't want to come for the party, will you come by afterwards? I owe you dinner."

Robin continues, and the brunette sighs as she looks down at the work she really isn't at all invested in and shrugs.

"Possibly."

 _Maybe. I don't know, alright? Just_ go _! Please! I can't-_

Gasping quietly, she jumps a little as the blonde's breath tickles her thigh, before nudging at her warningly with the toe of her shoe. Emma bats her foot away irritably and she clears her throat loudly to hide her resultant hiss.

"Well, ok. Oh,  _also_ -"

-Down below, Emma rolls her eyes as Robin begins a new topic, poking at the Mayor's leg pointedly in hopes that she will hurry the man on his way, and narrowing her eyes grumpily when she is nudged back none too gently. Irritated at this dismissive response, she wonders how the Mayor would like it if their positions were reversed and it was  _her_  trying to find a comfortable position in the cramped cubby beneath the desk. Noting the sleeve of her discarded shirt trailing down beneath a tantalising thigh, she smirks and tugs lightly, grinning to herself at the audible hitch in the brunette's otherwise sultry response to Robin's inane questions. With this, a devious idea occurs to her, and she studies the soft skin of the darker woman's legs pensively as she recalls the way Regina had played with fire back in the Station.

Now would be a pretty spectacular time for payback...

 _And isn't that just what we've_  always _done? One-upped each other mercilessly?_

Yes, that's pretty much the foundation of their curious relationship, and look how well it has worked for them this far!

Moving slowly- careful not to make any noise- she curls around so that she settles with her butt right up against the back of the desk and her eyes level with the brunette's knees. She has almost no space sat the way she does, but the solution to this seems rather simple.

Placing her hands on the Mayor's knees, she pushes gently, silently admiring the darker woman when she carries on talking with only the slightest lilt to her tone. Realising swiftly that her plan is flawed, Emma switches her attention to the tight fabric of Regina's skirt and pushes the crisp material up smoothly, grinning to herself when this new approach sends a tremble down slim legs and an unnecessary inflection in the brunette's spiel.

Up above, Regina swallows as she regards Robin through a gritted smile, inwardly damning the mischievous blonde below to the very deepest circles of hell. She supposes she's asked for this in some ways, what with her bold moves back in the Station, but that had been a much safer environment than  _this_! She hopes Emma appreciates this fact and is nearing the end of her impish little game.

_She better be, because when Robin leaves, she best believe I plan on punishing her for-_

"Oh!"

She exclaims as her legs are pushed apart firmly and the younger woman settles herself comfortably between them. Featherlight fingers slip around the back of her knee and she shudders as Robin raises a brow and asks if she's alright.

"Yes. I'm fine. Sorry, I... I thought I saw a spider on the desk."

She explains lamely, privately thinking about the hooks that had once hung in her dungeons and how nicely the Sheriff might atone for her sins should she be strung up as she deserves. She attempts to punt the blonde in the side with the toe of her Louboutin but is unable to move much at all now that Emma sits as she does. Nodding politely when Robin takes her explanation as a cue to continue telling her about an amusing conversation he'd had with Roland that morning, she clenches her fists as a sly finger traces the seam of her underwear; a little astounded that the blonde is taking things so far.

 _And not just in terms of our current hellish situation... I surprised myself when I proceeded to make things intimate between us, and_ still _don't entirely understand how it happened..._ This _is something else, though. This isn't just feeling around in the dark, this is intense. It's thought out. It's... It's_  real _._

Under the table, Emma ponders their predicament in a similar vein. She remains knelt between slender legs with left her hand resting hesitantly high up the brunette's thigh. She is close enough to see the faint pattern the material of the latter's skirt has printed lightly into her skin, and the slight sheen of the satin that encases her sex. She feels at the same time aroused and shy, never having thought that any of their games would have led her to this moment. Her mind plays her back the moments before Robin- so rudely!- interrupted and the Mayor's unfinished... what? Warning? Promise? Threat?

_Emma, this is going to-_

To what?

She doesn't know. Doesn't know what the darker woman was going to say as her fingers had trailed up the taut plane of her stomach so teasingly.

_To change everything. If we do this, it's going to change everything between us._

Right.

It will, and she would bet that Regina was going to remind her of much the same. The fact that the topic was being broached at  _all_  would suggest that Madame Mayor had had a little more in mind than simply continuing their velvet dance.

_You don't know that. You're putting words in her mouth, Swan..._

Ok. Maybe she is. Maybe Regina had simply been trying to tell her this was going to be a mistake. A bad idea.

 _Sure, and maybe it_  will _be, but she would have chosen an odd time to do so having just decided to undress you..._

Quite.

No, she's fairly sure the brunette had been warning her that they were crossing a line with what they were doing.

With what they were both obviously keen to do.

Swallowing with nervous determination, she slips her middle finger between soft satin and hot flesh and pulls the scant crotch of the Mayor's underwear aside.

Above her, dark eyes widen as Regina reaches nonchalantly for her pen and slips, sending it spinning across the desk.

"Oops. Damn thing."

She mutters, and Robin regards her curiously, but seems to know better than to question her. He is slightly confused- Regina not often one to appear so, well,  _flustered_ \- but then he has been picking up on a slight change in the brunette all week, and supposes this is simply another facet to the whole, strange situation. He has asked her several times if all is well, and each time she has assured him that is is. He believes her, as she has shown her darker colours several times when things were _not_  well, and supposes everything will return to normal in due course.

"So, is that a yes to a picnic on Sunday?"

"No..."

Regina breathes pleadingly as cool breath plays over her exposed sex in a way that is both delicious and terrifying, before gathering herself as best she can and adding hastily

"I mean, yes, that sounds nice, it's just... It's supposed to be w-wet... With rain. It's supposed to rain."

She finishes earnestly, and he shrugs amiably.

"Ah, I hadn't checked yet. Well, that's ok, we can always do something else."

He smiles, and the brunette attempts to reciprocate the expression as teasing fingers trace her inner thigh before soft breath is replaced by hot lips. Slipping her hand under the table- aware that it shakes ever so slightly- she finds a hold of the younger woman's hair; threading her fingers into tied back curls and making a fist warningly, preparing to push the devilish blonde away.

"Anyway, let me know. And I hope I  _do_  see you at Granny's later. Whether you want to talk about it or not, you should go more often when that lot invites you places. I'm sure Emma at least would be pleased if you come."

The telling ticklish flutter of laughter at this against her wetness, and her fingers woven into rich gold fist tighter in reprimand, but when teasing velvet flickers where she's most sensitive, all plans of pushing the Sheriff away are forgotten, and she pulls her in instead; hot fingers of anticipation coiling low in her abdomen.

"See you later."

Robin smiles, turning for the door before hesitating in his tracks.

"What, what is it?"

Regina demands breathlessly, willing the man to leave and close the door as she can feel herself coming dangerously close to letting it known just how the younger woman's attention is effecting her.

"Is that Emma's?"

Robin asks curiously, pointing down at the forlorn carcass of her jacket, and the brunette bites back a groan as she forces a breezy titter and explains airily

"Oh. Yes, looks like it is. Miss Swan must have left it on the hook on the back of the door earlier. Trust that idiot not to even manage hanging her jacket up properly."

Cruel teeth graze sensitive flesh, and the Mayor's thighs twitch as she strives to keep from moving in her chair.

"Well, that hook's a little bent out of shape, I guess."

Robin shrugs, picking up red leather and hanging it neatly on the small, gold hook on the back of the door.

"Bye."

He smiles, and the Mayor nods her farewell with a smile that feels more like a grimace until the door closes and the dull thud of the archer's footsteps die out.

"I'm going to  _kill_  you..."

She chokes breathlessly, pulling her hand free of silken curls and gripping the desk so hard her knuckles blanch. She gives up her progressively impossible attempt at maintaining composure and moves restlessly in her chair as Emma's teasing becomes a sweet and torturous promise of release. The plush material of her skirt rides up as she writhes and the bare skin of her thighs brushes against the soft cotton of the younger woman's shirt.

"I'm actually going to _kill_  you!"

She reiterates, her tone somewhere between a cry and a gasp. The younger woman's affections slow slightly at this laboured threat and the Mayor moves down in the chair to spread her legs a little wider and scolds shrilly

"Well don't  _stop_!"

Closing her eyes as laughter is succeeded with delicious obedience, she bites down hard on her bottom lip as a violent shudder rips through her accompanying her release.

"... Oh god."

She pants, keeping her eyes squeezed shut as she strives to regulate her breathing and get a hold of her mind before the overwhelming absurdity of this scene can drive her mad.

Allowing the darker woman a moment, Emma runs her fingers over her lips a little nervously before appealing reasonably

"I think I deserve to come out now."

Swallowing, the brunette complies silently, scraping her chair back so that the blonde can clamber out from the cubby hole. Opening her eyes but keeping them trained on the papers on her desk, she attempts to pull herself together as Emma winces and massages her lower back.

"Can I have my shirt?"

The blonde asks, and dark coals flicker up to study her distractedly.

"Seems a shame, but I suppose so."

Regina sighs, and she pulls crumpled cotton from beneath her and watches the Sheriff slip it on; attempting to straighten out the creases with little joy. A light blush colours pale cheeks in response to this comment, and the brunette lowers her head and lets out a low groan.

"Are you... I mean, wanting to murder me aside, are you ok?"

Emma asks sheepishly, and the Mayor nods, before straightening back up and regarding the younger woman pensively.

"... Did you  _really_  not feel guilty with Hook's voice all around when we... When we were in the Station."

"... Are you feeling guilty?"

"... A little."

Regina sighs, before continuing slowly

"Mostly because...I..."

Waiting as the brunette frowns down at the table, Emma eventually prompts quietly

"Because of what?"

"I've realised something."

"Oh?"

"You were wrong."

"Huh?"

"It's not nothing."

"How do you-"

"-I like you."

"... Oh."

"And now I am unsure where that leaves me... I'm not sure what to _do_  about it."

"Well... You could come help me choose a cake for Leroy..."

Emma suggests awkwardly, before breaking into a grin and laughing at the craziness of her suggestion; so mundane when the electricity in the room dances so wildly.

"... I suppose I could. After all, I believe you would appreciate it if I came."

"I believe I just did."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, I had kind of planned/ decided to end this fic with the way things were left at the end of the previous chapter. I've been really stoked with the reviews on this one though, and it seems like a few of you would like this to continue a while. I probably shouldn't dive into another one as I currently have several big projects going on in life outside FF, but I like the setting of this fic, and am considering turning it into a longer story. I've not written anything this recent in context of the way things play out on the show, and playing with swan queen alongside the existing canon relationships is proving to be interesting to write. Hopefully it's interesting to read, too! Let me know, and I will see whether to make this a full length, or a mid length of around 10 chapters etc. Either way, it will continue for now. :)

Tapping her foot impatiently, Regina sits in the booth closest to the door with her eyes flickering restlessly to the clock that hangs above the cash register. Granny comes by to ask if she wants a top up of the rather cheap wine that's doing its rounds about the Diner and she shakes her head distractedly, wondering how it could be that a bloody dwarf's birthday should offer up what feels like the longest afternoon she's spent  _anywhere_  in as long as she can remember.

Her trip with Emma to go and select a cake for the occasion had been wrought with discomfort; neither one of them saying a great deal and walking with a wide no man's land of space between them. She'd picked herself up some Aspirin while waiting for the blonde to pay for a large chocolate cake chosen with minimal care, and had popped a few between her lips as soon as they'd arrived at the Diner to the frantic chatter of Ruby and Ashley. The latter had come over- baby sleeping in the crook of her arm- to take their coats while the former had called the Sheriff over to sequester her help. Such a thing still seems beyond what most of the others in town will ask of her- the once Evil Queen- and she supposes this suits her pretty well. She'd simply slipped behind the table by the door, accepted the first offer of wine, and watched while the hoards had begun to filter in.

Two hours later- though it feels like at least five!- she sits eyeing the clock and nodding dutifully now and then as Snow chatters away opposite her.

She refuses to allow herself to look over at Emma.

And does it anyway.

The blonde stands up at the counter with her arms folded on the polished surface in a manner that makes her ass stick out. She shrugs lazily at something the small group around her says, before glancing over at the young brunette sat beside her as Lily fusses with a crease- one of many- running up the back of her shirt. She says something to her long ago friend that must have been a little dismissive as the latter gives her own disgruntled shrug and resolves to keep her hands to herself.

_Good._

Thinning her lips as the younger woman glances over her shoulder and catches her eye, she follows suite as Emma looks swiftly away.

When she returns her gaze a moment later, the blonde has disappeared from view and her obnoxiously leather-clad lesser half comes sauntering on over to fall into the booth beside her.

"You came! Emma said you wouldn't, but I told her to have faith. She was hoping you'd come."

"...I came."

Regina agrees irritably, though she is unable to hide the smallest hint of a smirk as she regards the pirate cooly.

Hook smiles and turns to Mary Margaret, and the Mayor sighs as she studies what remains of her second glass of wine before glancing over to where Robin stands talking to several of the Merry Men over by the jukebox. Ruby chats with them animatedly and flashes the archer a grin. Regina looks back at her glass with a frown as she knows she should find herself vexed by the little scene being played out in the corner- she certainly would have been a week ago!- but finds she just doesn't have the energy.

_Or care._

A deeper frown at this, as it isn't altogether true. She loves Robin, she really does... It's just she's known that for a good while now. What she feels when it comes to Emma has been an eternal grey subject; a crazed litter of emotions ranging from pure and venomous hatred to some inexplicable, indescribable intensity that sends her heart into her throat. She has never been able to put a finger on the type of relationship she and the blonde have, and she'd previously always believed this might simply be down to the stark fluctuation of situations the two have faced.

She's never really _considered_  whether her confusion might stem from anything other than Emma being both the Saviour, and a reputable pain in the backside.

Accepting a slice of cake slid over to her by David who comes and takes a seat beside Snow, she picks at it disinterestedly and takes some solace from the fact that Ruby abandons her flirtatious conversation with Robin and his men in order to start clearing up.

_Finally- an end is in sight._

Looking out the window, she spies where the blonde tormenting her thoughts has wandered off to. Emma sits at one of the small tables outside Granny's with her feet up on the pitted wood and her arms crossed over her stomach. She is still deep in conversation with Lily, who lounges in a similarly uncouth fashion with a cigarette hanging from her lips. This continuation of what had sounded- by all accounts- like an unhealthy childhood friendship is something that intrigues the Mayor; having seen first hand just how close things had come to blowing up- quite literally- between the two younger women. She herself has given the blonde's curious old acquaintance a wide berth; Lily seeming to her like the _true_  version of the angsty, obnoxious troublemaker she had once accused Emma of being.

_If Miss Swan may be described as a little stony at times, that woman is nothing but pure marble._

Maybe so, and yet she finds herself studying Lily pensively anyway.

_I wonder if she's spoken to you about her confusion over me._

The thought sits in her stomach like a brick, and she would sincerely _hope_  Emma wouldn't be so stupid as to think she would _survive_  discussing anything of the sort with anyone... But, the idea that the Sheriff might have discussed a more  _general_  brand of confusion is one that only occurs to the brunette now, and she cocks a brow as she looks from the blonde to Lily curiously.

Lily pitches the butt of her cigarette indifferently into one of the neat bushes lining the fence.

Emma pulls the elastic from her hair and shakes out long curls with one hand while flipping her companion the bird with the other.

_Lovely, dear._

Looking back down at the sickly sweet slab of cake in front of her, she slides it over to Henry gratefully when the boy takes up a seat beside Hook and asks her if she's finished playing with it.

_Why, what a fantastically disturbed partial family portrait we paint here..._

Sighing, she throws the blonde an envious glance, but the younger woman has deserted her seat outside and left nothing but an empty beer bottle in her place.

Robin comes over and takes a seat beside Charming and asks them all if they want leftovers on Ruby's behalf. She tunes out their respective replies; just pleased that everyone appears to be getting up and going about the business of gathering their things together with the promise of leaving.

Leroy himself- man of the hour- sits up at the bar slurring drunkenly, and the Mayor supposes whichever one of the Sheriff's feels so inclined might need to have a stern word with the squat little alcoholic. This thought causes her to smirk- the laughable law enforcement situation currently presiding over the town no longer causing her restless nights, but rather providing ample opportunity to dig at the three idiots- and she doesn't notice right away when the vacated bench across from her is taken up again.

"You look like you're plotting something nefarious."

Emma informs her amiably enough, and she looks up and allows a small smile that suggests she just might be.

"I think Leroy might need to culminate his evening with a stint behind bars."

Regina muses, and the blonde looks over at the man in question and shrugs.

"I'll give him a while and see if he sobers up any. I think Mary Margaret said something to him about going for a walk down to the bean fields."

"What a terribly depressing proposition."

The brunette wrinkles her nose; nothing left in the arid fields but the blackened stumps of failed endeavours.

"Well... You know my mom."

The Sheriff grins, and Regina nods as she quips silkily

"Unfortunately, I do."

Suffering a moment's silence as the train of conversation comes to an awkward end, the blonde clears her throat a little uncomfortably before glancing up as Hook calls her on his way into the kitchens. She holds up her hand in a gesture that she will be right there, and glowers at the darker woman when the latter remarks flippantly

"That man just does whatever you say, doesn't he?"

"... That's not fair."

Emma frowns, before pointing out that she would say much the same about Robin.

"True," Regina agrees, "but then I have an  _aptitude_  for telling others what to do."

"No arguments on that one from  _me_!"

"...Precisely."

"What are you getting at?"

"You don't strike me as the bossy type. The pirate is just that much of a puppy dog that he waits for your orders and follows them mindlessly."

"... I hardly think telling him to wait a second for me to wrap up a conversation is-"

"-Would you ask  _me_  to do so?"

"Well, no."

"...Interesting."

"Not really. I'd not bother asking _you_  to wait as I know you  _wouldn't_."

"Possibly not, but perhaps I would. I don't think you'd ask me either way."

"So what?"

"So... If I asked  _you_  to do so, you'd roll your eyes, you'd have some childish comment or other to make... But you'd still do it."

"What's your point, Regina?"

Emma sighs irritably, and the brunette frowns, not entirely sure herself. She just knows- has  _always_  known- that she can make Emma behave in ways she wouldn't for anyone else.

 _What does that matter? Why does_ any _of this matter?! What happened today is pure madness! Why taunt her for an answer that will do neither of us a lick of good!?_

"No point, Miss Swan."

"...Seriously? You're still gonna call me that after-..."

"After what?"

_Well, after I had you squirming madly in your chair comes to mind..._

"...Nothing."

"Right."

Looking from Hook- who waits patiently up at the bar- to Regina, Emma sighs, taking her own small stab before dismissing herself.

"I should go, you have dinner with Robin."

"Yes."

The Mayor answers woodenly, having forgotten about this small arrangement and glancing over at the archer before looking back at the blonde. She meets cool green with well hidden turmoil; still completely shocked by the events of the past week and the momentous escalation of their strange situation prompted by the younger woman this afternoon. She studies soft lips warily, before turning her attention to the slightly dishevelled pull of the blonde's shirt collar.

She wonders if Emma let her hair out of it's ponytail because of the mess she'd made of it with her fingers.

She wonders how to broach the subject of what happened beneath her desk, as the prospect of _not_  doing so threatens to drive her mad.

She has a million questions about what Emma did today, and-

"-Well. I should go."

The Sheriff interrupts her thoughts, but her words are low and companionably awkward. Looking quickly up at Hook and Robin, she lowers her voice and asks in little more than a whisper

"Regina... About what you said earlier..."

"... Hook's waiting for you."

The brunette reminds tonelessly; not sure what to do with the mess in her head and blaming Emma entirely out of sheer habit.

Considering this slightly cool rebuttal, the Sheriff nips at her lip, before pushing herself from the table with the gruff remark of

"Enjoy your dinner, Regina."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Happy Saturday, please review :)

Pushing around the cooling pasta that congeals on her plate, Regina sighs. She's eaten little more than half of her order of seafood linguine, but she supposes this is still pretty admirable as she'd had no appetite to speak of to begin with. Robin sits across from her, his own plate clean but for a lone smear of peppercorn sauce. He grins at her as she looks up and asks if she's saving room for dessert. She looks back down at the chilled mess now mounded on the right side of the plate and shakes her head as she lowers her knife and fork.

"I don't think I can eat any more."

Robin shrugs and smiles as their plates get cleared away. He begins a new topic of conversation as he places his hand over hers on the table and she studies the thick knots of his knuckles and the familiar scar that lines his index finger pensively. She wants to engage herself in their conversation, aware that she has been allowing the archer to do all the talking this evening, but her mind- and heart- just doesn't seem to be in it. She keeps thinking back on Emma's parting words back at the Diner.

_Enjoy your dinner, Regina._

More specifically, she finds herself thinking back on the sour irritation the blonde's tone had been laced with. She's heard Emma use that voice plenty of times before, but not any time she can recall recently. It's the way the Sheriff had once spoken to her when she'd been played. When she'd been beaten in whatever small yet cruel struggle for power they'd been engaged in.

_I certainly don't feel like I've won anything right now..._

No, all she feels currently is confusion mixed with a curious sense of gloom. Ordinarily, she looks forward to her evenings out with Robin; something which they have only been able to fully indulge in recently due to the regular chaos shrouding the town lying momentarily dormant. Tonight though, she is unable to keep her thoughts on the matter at hand.

Unable to study strong fingers clasped over her own without pondering the fact that the Sheriff has a similar shaped scar lining her thumb. It had been the result of reaching for her sword a little too hastily when the two of them had become separated from the others in Neverland, and she remembers scolding the idiot for her foolishness before being asked-  _oh_  so silkily- if she'd prefer Emma just let her get strangled by low hanging vines in future.

She comes to the bizarre realisation that this is just one of  _many_  small quirks she has catalogued and documented over her time facing off against- and aiding- the blonde, despite struggling now to recall whether Robin's small birth mark mars his right thigh or his left.

_Well, you've known her a lot longer._

Perhaps, but save for Henry who she has bathed and dressed over the years, she can't think of anyone else she'd be able to say with any real certainty whether they have a smattering of small, long ago scars speckling their elbow.

Never mind how  _many_!

_Five. Small and white. In a small cluster that looks a little like a bird._

"-Coffee?"

"I'm sorry?"

She asks, looking up from Robin's hand into kind eyes.

"If you don't want dessert, shall we get some coffee."

"I... Actually, I have a bit of a headache."

She replies quietly, and this isn't exactly a lie.

"Would you mind if I asked for a rain-check on that?"

"Of course not. Shall we settle up and go home?"

He smiles, and she sighs, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Actually, I might go for a walk. Try and clear my mind."

* * *

Looking up in surprise as the main door to the Station creaks open and closed, Emma glances at the clock before slowly wrapping up the toasted cheese that had been half way on its journey to her mouth. The metronomic, no-nonsense rapport of sharp heels leaves her in little doubt as to who her late night visitor might be, and she sips at her soda apprehensively as she waits for the Mayor to stalk into view.

"Well, I hope you're happy."

Regina snaps as she lets herself into the inner office and takes up a post in front of the Sheriff's desk with her hands resting irritably on her hips.

"... Reasonably, yes. Thanks for your concern."

Emma replies boldly as she lowers her cup and raises an eyebrow in hopes that the brunette might elaborate.

"Well,  _good_  for you!"

The darker woman growls, before letting out a sigh that seems to have come from the very depths of her soul. Licking her bottom lip a little nervously, the blonde points to the stool in the corner and waits for Regina to sit down. When her gesture is met only with a glance of open disdain, Emma rolls her eyes and gets up to close the window; saying nothing when the Mayor takes over her recently vacant seat, leaving her the wobbly stool with the chipped side. She perches on it indifferently- her elbows locked and palms turned out between her thighs- as she waits for Regina to explain herself.

"... Weren't you out for dinner?"

Emma asks eventually when the brunette simply slouches- rather uncharacteristically- in her chair and peaks inside the grease spotted paper of the cooling grilled cheese the blonde has left on the desk.

"Yes."

She snaps, and the Sheriff bites the inside of her cheek as Regina falls silent once more- this time positively  _glaring_  at the vibrant paper favoured by the diner- and prompts sarcastically

"Well, it seems to have gone  _wonderfully_  well..."

"Oh, shut up."

The brunette warns, looking up angrily and demanding

"Haven't you done enough?!"

A swift pulse of rage flares up in the younger woman immediately before it dissipates almost as quickly as it'd had bloomed. She's dealt with the Mayor enough times to know not to take Regina's- albeit unfair- words to heart. If the brunette didn't have something she wanted to discuss or ask for help with, she wouldn't be here right now. As it is, Emma is fairly sure she can guess why the darker woman  _is_  here, and she reasons calmly enough

"What  _have_  I done?"

"You... You..."

Regina starts, and the Sheriff knows she's clenching her fists under the table. She does it until her nails make small, slow-reddening grooves on the insides of her palms. The blonde has spotted them now and then following a disagreement.

"You've made me confused."

The Mayor admits finally, and Emma remains silent but nods slowly as she accepts this accusation thoughtfully.

"All through dinner I was so  _confused_. So... So  _conflicted_! And it's  _madness_! I mean, it's _you_!"

"It is."

The blonde agrees, finally giving her arms a break as she shifts to sit cross legged up on the stool and points out quietly

"I think that's probably part of the problem. I can't speak for you, but I would  _guess_  you might have less of a hard time with it if you were conflicted over someone else."

"Because you're a woman?"

"... Is that the problem for you?"

"Is it for you?"

Regina fires back, and she meets the Sheriff's eyes curiously as the latter simply offers her an unreadable little smile, before Emma shakes her head.

"I _meant_  because of it being  _me._  And our past."

"Oh."

The brunette frowns, recalling her previous musings concerning Lily.

"I suppose that's  _most_  of it, yes. And because of how I feel about Robin."

"How do you feel about Robin."

"I  _love_  him."

The brunette snaps immediately and Emma raises a brow as she teases warily

"The repercussions following the whole Marion debacle made that  _fairly_  clear, yes. I meant what do you feel for him right  _now_? Right this second?"

"I've _told_  you. I love him. I've  _always_  loved him."

"Hm."

The blonde sighs with a small roll of her eyes before she can help herself. Regina catches this ill-hidden show of insolence easily and challenges

"What? What's so _amusing_  about that to you?"

Catching a definite note of venom in the darker woman's tone, Emma finds herself both drawn in, and pulling back sensibly

"It's just that's kind of true, isn't it? You pretty much went from zero to sixty with Robin with no warning."

"Yes, well, I'm sorry if your current witch hunt meant I didn't  _consult_  you on such things."

The Mayor sniffs irritably, and the blonde grins

"Apology accepted."

"Oh, you are  _just_ -"

"-But I mean, come  _on_ , Regina. You gave the guy your heart for safe keeping after knowing him what, a couple of  _weeks_?"

"Well, what was I  _supposed_  to do?"

"... I can think of several people that may have deserved greater trust than a new fling..."

"Like you, you mean? I should have given my heart to  _you?_ "

"I would have done a better job of hanging on to it."

Emma snaps, and the brunette opens her mouth to scold the younger woman for not understanding that a child's safety had been at stake before stopping herself. The Sheriff's expression is both defiant yet proud, and the Mayor supposes that while Emma might be having a dig at Robin's honour, she's also perhaps expressing a private matter of irritation. Perhaps she really  _had_  been a little affronted not to have been trusted.

_Trusted with my heart..._

"I trusted Robin. Not  _all_  of us require months of fruitless pursuit only to eventually give in to the annoyance in the hopes it might cease."

She muses silkily, too thrown by the insinuation of what Emma's said to try and calm the air.

"That's not fair."

"Well neither is what  _you're_  implying. How's that supposed to  _help_  me at all!?"

"... If you  _want_  my help, you could at least quit snapping at me."

The Sheriff reasons, and the brunette glowers at her before eventually allowing a small smirk.

"I guess it's just habit."

"Not one of your best."

Emma sighs, but she smiles too.

"...Did you really mean what you said earlier?"

She asks a little shyly.

"What did I say earlier, dear?"

The brunette asks exhaustedly, playing through the madness of the day and thinking the blonde could be referring to any number of things she's said.

_Or moaned._

"You said you liked me."

"Well,  _you_  said you liked _me_!"

"... It wasn't an  _insult_ , you know..."

Emma grumbles, and the Mayor gives her an indecisive 'hmm' to suggest she's not entirely sure on that one.

"... So?"

"So what?"

"... Do you?"

"... Yes. I _suppose_  so. Or rather, things that didn't make sense to me _before_  are starting to make a little more sense  _now_. Some of the ways I've felt and thought about you. God knows  _why_ , though."

"You know you don't _have_  to do that?"

"Do what?"

"You don't have to be mean to compensate for saying something neutral or- god forbid-  _nice_  to me."

"Am I hurting your feelings?"

Regina asks, raising a brow to indicate she wouldn't be especially concerned if this were the case, while inwardly rather curious.

"Ha. Regina, I don't think you're even  _able_  to hurt my feelings anymore. When you survive a certain amount of poison, you become immune."

Emma replies cooly, and the brunette purses her lips while privately surprised to find that the younger woman's words sting. She'd known- of course- that she'd made a  _point_  of being cruel at any given opportunity when they'd first been acquainted, but it is something that is only ever mentioned in passing now, and often jokingly. Emma has never come right out and  _said_  that she'd felt hurt by the things snapped at her, and thinking back on that time now, Regina can't help but feel a little uncomfortable. The blonde seems to be thinking along similar lines as she sighs wearily and leans forward on the stool, addressing the Mayor thoughtfully.

"I can't help you figure this out. You know that, right? I'm as surprised as you are that what happened, well,  _happened_. Maybe I realised what it all might mean before you did, but it was  _you_  that asked me to kiss you. I can only try and tell you what _I_  think and feel, and I'm  _only_  going to do that if you offer me the same courtesy and stop jumping down my throat any time you can. This isn't any less confusing for _me,_  you know?"

"... Are you suggesting we have a  _conversation_  about how we feel?... We've never done that."

Regina muses, and the Sheriff laughs as she agrees ruefully

"Well, we wouldn't have endured _nearly_  as many harrowing and possibly avoidable situations if we had..."

"Are you mocking me?"

"I'm mocking us."

"... I see."

The brunette frowns, but a small tick at the side of her mouth suggests she hasn't failed to find amusement in their short comings.

"So. How  _do_  we do this? How do we talk about our feelings on this... ah... matter."

"The same way the 'matter' came about, Madame Mayor."

Emma smiles, getting up and walking over to the cabinets that line the wall.

"How's that, Miss Swan?"

"Well, you and I pretty much  _suck_  at pleasantries and calm, rational acceptance of the other's point of view... So, we play again. That way we _have_  to say what's on our mind. It's the rules."

She points out simply, opening up the second drawer from the bottom of the left side cabinet and pulling out a bottle of scotch.

"You have alcohol hidden in your office?!"

"... Dare you to let it slide."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, not exactly the deep conversation I had originally planned, but this way seemed a little more fun, and I think several topics have at least been covered here, with room for more to crop up. Hope you enjoy and please review :)

Emma disappears into the small kitchenette at the back of the Station in search of a couple of glasses, and Regina purses her lips as she reaches for the bottle left on the desk with a feigned look of annoyance. In all honesty, she's never felt more inclined to drink that she can remember, and the sudden- and extremely  _disconcerting_ \- temptation to touch the blonde when she saunters back into view doesn't help!

 _Well, the conversation_ has _been rather heated._

True, and she still can't _quite_  get her head around it when looking at the blonde now that the younger woman had spent this morning knelt beneath her desk, nor the shocking event that had followed. It's not just that, though. The strange urge to reach out and touch the Sheriff's arm had been one born from affection not just want, and she moves her hands resolutely beneath the table and sits on them before they can have any further wild and completely insane fancies.

"I'm afraid I can't offer you any ice."

Emma apologises as she upends the bottle of scotch and pours them each a large helping; placing the bottle back on the table as she doubts this will be their single and last use of it. Regina shakes her head, murmuring that she doesn't mind, while struggling to come to terms with the matter of factness of the blonde's tone. Deciding to make a move and start the game off with the question currently bothering her the most, she takes a sip of her proffered drink and implores irritably

"How can you be so  _calm_? This whole time you've been basically acting like nothing's _wrong_! Like nothing out of the ordinary has happened! How can you... How can you be so  _unaffected_?"

"Oh."

Emma replies with a genuine look of surprise, before pondering her own drink with a sheepish smile.

"I'm not... I'm not calm, and I'm  _certainly_  not unaffected... I just... Tend to keep that kind of stuff to myself. If you want to know the truth, I spent about half an hour sat on the floor of the shower just kind of _digesting_  things before coming out here. The water had gone cold, and then Henry decided to just walk right on in. I'm not sure if he was more worried or mortified! I assured him everything was fine though, which I think it is in a way. It's just crazy. Maybe I don't  _show_  that so much, but I do _feel_  it!... I guess the one thing you  _are_  right about though, is that I'm not acting like something's wrong. I guess I probably should be. But I just don't feel like it  _is_..."

The younger woman shrugs, and the brunette looks away as she shakes her head.

"This is so messed up."

"Well... You can leave if you like."

"I'm not  _saying_  I-... I don't want to leave."

She finishes off a little less angrily, and she sighs wearily and raises her glass.

"You of all people should know I'm not one to back away from a challenge."

"Oh, I know that alright! I guess we've  _always_  had our games in some sense or other."

"Yes. But I didn't mean the game in this instance. _You've_  always been a challenge for me."

Regina laments, sounding really rather perturbed about the fact, and Emma regards her thoughtfully, reading an awkward element of warmth in the Mayor's otherwise peevish sentiment.

"Yeah. And you never backed off."

Emma grins eventually, and dark eyes roll as the brunette murmurs something that sounds suspiciously like 'big mistake'. Nipping at her scotch pensively, the blonde offers a small shrug to end the matter and asks solemnly

"So?"

"So what, dear?"

"Truth or dare, Regina?"

"Well, I certainly don't think picking the _latter_  will help our current predicament."

"... Ok. Then I guess if it's my turn to ask you something, I'll ask you if you really think that's what this is?"

"What what is?"

"This. Our situation. Everything you've said and expressed has been pretty negative, and I mean, I get it. It's confusing. It's new. It's crazy. But if you were really so put out by what happened, why are you here?"

"... It's not new."

Regina sighs after a long stretch of silence. Shaking her head, she takes a sip, before taking another as though for good luck.

"It's not new, Emma, this thing between us. It's just new that we've acted on it. You reminded me before that it was  _me_  that prompted things to escalate. True, it was part of your ridiculously moronic game, but I  _could_  have told you to do something else. I could have refrained from telling you to kiss me... I'm put out that I've betrayed Robin. I'm put out by the lack of sleep the madness in my head has leant me. I'm put out at not having things under control as I like them to be. But I'm not put out by you. Much as it pains me to say it, and much as it goes against _everything_  the two of us have ever considered 'normal', I'm not put out by  _you._  I'm here because, as I said, I like you. I've just sat through a hellish birthday gathering and a remarkably uncomfortable dinner date. Both of those things were made  _horrible_  for me because of the fact that I like you... In all honesty, I'm  _also_  here because I don't know what other option I have. If I go somewhere else, I'm going to be  _thinking_  about you, so I may as well deal with you in the flesh."

She gripes, although she doesn't miss the small ripple of the blonde's throat as she imparts this last little bit of wisdom, and she grits her teeth as she finds herself hoping Emma will choose to be given a dare so that she can see a little more of the younger woman.

_That's not going to help anything!_

No, probably not, but as she feels pretty deeply intrenched in this strange and turbulent pit, she supposes being offered the best choice of scenery may in fact provide faint consolation!

"Your go."

She mutters, and the blonde smiles as she accepts this poor attempt to mask the impossibly large step the brunette has just taken in how she sees it fit to treat her.

"You can ask me something."

She offers a little shyly, and the Mayor nods as she sifts through the million or so questions in her head. Cheeks rouging prettily, she supposes a large part of her has been stuck on one very  _poignant_  topic all afternoon.

"Under my desk, when you... I... You seemed to know what you were doing."

She finishes a little lamely, and the blonde smirks despite glowing with her own bright blush and she scoffs lightly

"That's hardly a question... Though it's always nice to have your talents appreciated, I guess."

Dark eyes flicker at this, but the brunette seems unable to decide how to word what's on her mind, and her second attempt to flirt around the subject fairs no better.

"You're with Hook. You said you loved Neal."

"I am. And I did."

Emma agrees, before sighing deeply and swirling her drink as she continues a little uncomfortably

"I guess that's as close as you're going to come to asking what you actually  _want_  to ask me... And, despite the rules of the game, I'm afraid I don't have a 'true' answer that's any less convoluted than your question. I  _am_  with Hook. I'm happy with Hook. I was happy with Neal. I'm in my thirties though, and there have been other people before and in-between. None worth mentioning on the grand scale of getting weird and emotional about, but as it seems relevant in this particular niche circumstance; no, not all of them were guys. When I was quite a bit younger I went through a time where I experimented with all sorts of things. People was one of them, in many ways, including the way you're asking about."

"Oh... Was Lily-"

Regina trails off, admittedly surprised by the younger woman's admission, as much as she supposes she's always had a few odd thoughts when it came to some of Emma's behaviour now and then.

_Like I told her, things make a lot more sense now..._

The blonde raises a brow in genuine surprise, choking on her scotch before laughing huskily. She shakes her head, sending long curls tumbling in a way that causes dark lashes to flicker

" _Lily?!._.. Oh man, was  _that_  what you were thinking about at Grumpy's thing earlier?"

"Well, I wasn't thinking about anything in _particular._ "

The brunette snaps primly, and she huffs irritably when this slightly prude defence is met with open amusement. Gathering herself as she catches the beginnings of thunder alighting the Mayor's brow, Emma shakes her head and explains dutifully

"Well, either way, you can rest assured nothing happened there. Don't worry."

"I wasn't worried."

Regina scowls, and Emma brushes off the darker woman's misplaced irritation with a slight grain of her own annoyance and bites back sharply

"Well, good. Then you won't be bothered when I tell you the same can't be said for her friend."

Recognising the tell-tale signs to their long ago spates of back-stabbing and twisting the knife, Regina shakes her head as she lets go of the immediate need to snarl back and instead allows a strangely curious smile to find her lips.

"Oh?"

Simmering down herself and adopting a shy smirk, Emma grins

"I'm not as boring as you thought, huh?"

"Oh, I never once thought you were  _boring_! I may have  _wished_  for it, though!"

Regina exclaims, and she watches the younger woman shake with gleeful laughter with the slow realisation that she does so with her breath held and her finger tracing the rim of her glass. Swallowing when the Sheriff pulls herself together and addresses her slyly, she refuses to be intimidated, much as the impossible darkness that hides behind cool green wills it

"Truth or dare, Regina."

"I imagine you have things you wish to ask me."

She states breezily, and she is unsurprised when Emma points out that she wouldn't mind a return of the favour and knowing just what  _had_  prompted the Mayor to delve into her underwear so brazenly. Thinking the question over and debating whether or not the truth might be a little too unsettling, Regina supposes rules are rules, and answers quietly

" _You_  did."

"I did what?"

"You prompted me to. The situation, the tension, the way you were looking at me. I just... I went with it all."

"Oh."

"Does that surprise you?"

Regina asks with genuine intrigue, and the blonde scoffs at her query uncomfortably before opening up slowly

"Honestly? Yeah. I mean, not the just being totally desperate to fuck me part, that's pretty understandable-"

"-Really, dear. Leave such grand confidence to the professionals and quit stalling."

"... Too much?"

"Oh, it's entirely true, you just can't pull it off."

"Ah. Well. I have other talents."

"... Indeed."

Regina allows, gesturing with her hand that Emma should continue and the blonde carries on slowly

"You asked me about what I'd made of you back in the book when Hook and me were trapped."

"I did. You told me I'd rid you of your ball gown."

"Yeah."

The blonde nods, clearing her throat shyly.

"I presume you were less than impressed at this request..."

" _Request_?! Shit, last time I checked, a request wasn't the same thing as waving your hand and leaving someone staggering around butt naked."

"Now there's an image."

"... It  _was_  pretty amusing."

"Looking back?"

"Well, and at the time, too. I'm not sure thinking that was really an appropriate response to understanding Evil you would spare no thoughts about killing me-"

"-Oh, she'd have thought about it plenty. Probably over a goblet of wine."

"So... Not much has changed then?"

"Not much at all."

"Ha. Well, the thing is, I was pretty freaked out by the whole thing, but also just in the back of my mind, all I kept thinking about was how fucking ridiculously you were dressed and how wonderfully insufferable I was going to make your life once I got back home. Provided you didn't kill me first. But I just... You did that fancy little hand thing you like to look all smug over, and my immediate response was just  _'Regina!'_. Kind of shocked, but also a little bit tickled by how weird it was you were trying to get me naked. I think part of that was maybe adrenaline kicking in and turning logical thought into soup, but I couldn't help it that while you were demanding I get dressed 'more befitting to my status' I just kept thinking to myself 'Madame Mayor is seeing me naked'."

"You have an odd sense of humour."

Regina muses, not unkindly, and Emma shrugs, pointing out

"Well,  _you_  have an odd way of dealing with women if you have no interest in them."

"I was the Queen. It wasn't anything sexual."

The brunette snaps, remembering several incidences where she had been a little less sure, but not able to quite place her finger on the root of the problem.

"If you say so, Regina."

Emma smirks, and the darker woman offers her a warning glance before reminding silkily

"You're becoming rather bold for one still testing the boundaries."

"I've always been that way."

The blonde points out simply, stoking the fire and prompting coquettishly

"Anyway, it's my turn. And I choose dare."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, I had originally wanted to delve right into the scene this chapter finishes on. I received a couple of reviews and messages concerning the last one though, and I felt like some of you had kind of read it to seem like Emma was expressing she was happy with Hook and therefore not interested in anything other than friendship with Regina, and/or that she was in denial. That's not at all how I had intended for it to read, so I ended up trying to organise my thoughts a little better/ clearer. Sorry if this chapter reads a little as filler, I just wanted to try and clear up what I'd meant to be trying to say (or Emma was trying to say, I guess) as I kept frowning down at my wine and thinking 'hmm. I messed up somewhere', and it wasn't sitting well with me :) I think the next chapter might be the final one, and hopefully this attempt to clear up any uncertainty will make it that much more fun to look forward to! I really hope this reads as a bonus extra chapter rather than annoying and irrelevant, but, it's done now, and I can only say that I do always try to make these things read as best as I can, and the intention comes from a good place!

_"Anyway, it's my turn. And I choose dare."_

Emma grins, playing her finger over the rim of her glass as she regards the brunette challengingly. Regina eyes her back darkly, understanding the bait that has been dangled in front of her, but moreso, the fact that her next move will be intricately analysed. The thought excites her a little, just as it always does. Part of her initial draw to the blonde- besides the obvious- had been Emma's insistence on matching her dirty games play by play. The Sheriff has always dished her provocative waspishness back to her in spades, and met each surprised realisation of the fact with a raising of her jaw and the silent beckon to have another shot at her. She knows that the blonde's playing with her, and that Emma likely imagines she's set to up the temperature.

_Lord knows I'd like to._

Oh, yes.  _Indeed_ , she'd like to. She'd like to take the sly wretch up on her devious suggestion masked by the innocence of a children's game and tell the blonde to lose the unflattering shroud of her sweater, and everything else besides.

She's torn, though.

Despite their familiar- and really rather amiable- bickering moments ago, she is slowly coming to understand that the confusing shadow of emotion accompanying her lust in the face of the Sheriff's coy temptation is anger.

Not just irritation, but anger.

Because the last few hours have been hell for her as she's tried to make sense of things in her mind, and while Emma might  _say_  that she feels similarly confused and conflicted, she sure as hell isn't acting that way! Instead, she's grinning moronically and tempting the darkness out, having just breezily stated that she's perfectly happy in her current relationship and backing this up with seemingly no remorse or struggle for dragging them deeper into this mess.

And if there's one thing Regina can't allow-  _won't_  allow- it's Emma Swan getting one up on her.

Dark coals glittering, she holds the Sheriff's daring gaze easily, musing on how tempting it would be to play her hand as the blonde has set her up to do, and knowing that she's not able to let things go quite so easily.

"I dare you to knock that back."

She states finally, gesturing towards the younger woman's glass which is still midway full of Scotch.

"Huh?"

Emma frowns, her face a picture of open confusion, and Regina feels a sinister smile find her lips in a cruel curve that has been absent from their interactions for quite some time. It doesn't curl quite so snidely- so coldly- as it once had, as she has been telling the truth whenever asked of late what she makes of the idiot Saviour. She hadn't been lying when she'd said she liked Emma. She likes her in all manner of ways, and she isn't smirking with the intent to  _hurt_.

She just wants the blonde to feel how she's currently feeling.

Kicked where she's vulnerable and not understanding why.

"It shouldn't be a problem for you, dear, I've seen you demolish greater feats."

She comments silkily, and Emma looks down at her glass before frowning back up at the Mayor.

"You're daring me to take a shot?"

"You seem perplexed?"

The brunette prompts, and the Sheriff holds her gaze with a slight narrowing of her eyes, before downing the scotch as she has been asked.

"What's wrong?"

Regina pushes, noting the way the younger woman places her glass down rather aggressively.

"Nothing."

"That's not true."

"Well, good thing I asked for a dare then!"

Emma snaps, before rolling her eyes and throwing up her palms while coming clean

"I just thought... I just thought you'd dare me to do something else is all."

"I see."

The brunette purrs, both relishing the disappointment easily gleaned from the blonde's expression, and weighing up whether she should call the Sheriff out or continue pushing her down. Deciding to go with the theme of the day and act in a way that seems foreign for the both of them, she throws the younger woman a bone as she leans over to top up her now empty glass.

"You thought I might ask to see a little more of you?"

"Well, actually I thought maybe you'd ask me to kiss you again..."

Emma replies truthfully, before continuing a little sheepishly

"If you  _had_  had asking me, uh, that other thing in mind though, how come you didn't?"

"Because. I wanted to use my next turn first."

Regina sighs, and when the younger woman offers her open confusion, she sips from her own glass as she points towards Emma's.

"I've tried asking you how you feel a few times now. Your game requires the truth, and while I don't think you're  _lying_ , you're definitely being extremely miserly with any details. I'm hoping my last hand might loosen you up."

"I've answered everything you've asked!"

Emma argues indignantly, feeling a little put out after having felt really rather  _uncomfortable_  beneath her blasé approach to the topic when the Mayor had gone asking about her previous experience with all this. She's not sure what Regina's looking for here, but short of writing the woman a fucking stroke book sewn together with past tales of her sordid escapades, she'd say she's been pretty damn candid!

"You have."

The brunette agrees, before letting her growing anger get the better of her and snapping irritably

"And it's made absolutely no sense!  _You're_  the one that threw in the fact that you liked me; not that you were attracted to me, not that this was all a drunken mistake, but that you _liked_  me. Yet, you're the one that remains cool, calm and collected. It's all very well you saying that you have a tendency to internalise your emotions. Hell, I've known you long enough to have picked up on  _that_  myself! But, you're sitting there egging me on to keep playing this game when I've told you that I feel conflicted because of everything that I have with Robin, and I can't make head or tail of what's going on with you when it comes to Hook, but all I know is that you've told me-  _several_  times- that you're happy, and yet you seem  _completely_  unfazed about courting danger! I know that you can be idiotic and blatantly unmoved, Miss Swan, I know that full and well-"

"-I-"

"-But I can't match your luxurious position of being unconcerned. Of feeling 'less guilty than you should' and of being perfectly happy and content regardless. Maybe it's cruel of me to find myself angry at you for being able to brush everything off so carelessly when I can't do the same, and if that's the case, I suppose I'm guilty of that as well as a growing list of other things. As I said though, I'm not put out by what's happened between us because of  _you_. But, I  _am_  extremely confused as to where you stand with all this."

Regina finishes, pursing her lips as she nips at the tip of her tongue moodily and waiting to see whether her words will be met with rage, or the cold disconnection Emma still sometimes favours in the face of being told things she might not want to hear.

As it is, the blonde opts for the third manner of reaction that the Mayor recognises from their past fallings out, and Regina relaxes a little and employs a touch of patience as she is able to appreciate the troubled look of surprise Emma throws back at her mixed with the childlike shock of being completely taken aback.

"This has all just escalated past the point where I can call it a 'game' comfortably."

The brunette appeals quietly, and Emma nods slowly before drinking deeply from her freshly filled glass.

"No. I know. Me neither."

"But you-"

"-I what? I told you I'm  _happy_? I  _am_  happy. I'm in a relationship that works for me in most ways that matter. I'm with someone that's good to me and nice to me. I'm with someone that's good  _for_  me. So yes, I'm happy. The thing is, I've cared about Hook for a while now, I'm more settled than I ever have been... But, do you want to know what the _one_  thing we argue about most often is?"

"The list of ridiculous possibilities is overwhelming."

"It's you. I can't _count_  the amount of times we've argued about you. More specifically, my... My way of being about and around you. I reacted to someone making pretty much the most romantic gesture I can _fathom_  by spending the next couple of weeks all but  _ignoring_  them in favour of trying to mend my relationship with a woman seemingly heart set- once again- on destroying me. The argument goes that I am terrible at expressing my emotions, and for the most part, that's probably true. Apart from with Henry and yourself, I've never been great at remembering to tell people things or letting them in on what I'm thinking. With Henry, it's something I've had to learn to make sure I do. With you... Well, much like so many _other_  things, Regina, for  _some_  reason, you're just the odd one out for me. You're the anomaly yet again. I  _am_  happy, because I'm in a good situation. There was never any confusion or angst on my part before this past week in terms of whether or not I was in the _right_  situation. I've always known you and I are, well,  _weird_  sometimes towards each other. And I'm not talking about poisonings or curses or all that other shit, I'm talking about the fact that spending a couple of minutes going a round with you back in the day left me on a high I can only compare to... Well... You know. I've always known there was a strange connection there, but I never once sat around thinking 'well shit, I might just pursue the woman that's made my life a living hell'. How I felt about you in a sense I could compare to feeling about Hook, about Neal, about anyone else I've been with- and, yes, been  _happy_  with-... It never even crossed my mind _to_  compare those things! Surely you can understand that much?!"

"... Of course."

"Me telling you I'm happy doesn't mean that this past week hasn't done my fucking head in. It means that just because I've realised a few things I'm beginning to think were really rather dangerous to go fooling around with when it comes to you, doesn't mean I suddenly don't give a shit about Hook and am now realising I was totally mistaken in any and all interactions before leaning in to kiss you the other night. Acknowledging confusion over you doesn't detract from the relationship I've built up with anyone else...

That said, Me not feeling as guilty as I should- and I _should!_  I could have told you to stop, and I let you fuck me while listening to a goddamn answer machine recording from the man I'm supposed to lo... to be with!- that makes me think I might feel certain things about you more deeply than I honestly know what to do with. The guilt thing isn't just something I've just brushed under the carpet, it's something I've put aside for now because I have no fucking  _clue_  how to explain what I think or feel. I told you before, and I will tell you again, Regina; I am _just_  as confused about all this as you are. I just wear it differently."

"Oh."

The brunette replies, taken aback by the stark honesty of the Sheriff's response. She is a little surprised by the venom in Emma's voice, and more than a little apprehensive about what it might  _mean_. As they have both said, it is rare for the blonde to delve deeply into how she's feeling, and the fact that she's unleashed the tirade of anguish that she has is unexpected despite the request for her to do so.

 _There was never any confusion or angst on my part before this past week in terms of whether or not I was in the_ right _situation_

The Sheriff's words play back in the Mayor's head and she bites her lip as she can empathise entirely. Before the madness following their drinking session in the blonde's apartment, she had never once  _considered_  Emma in any other role but her personal antagonist. Sure, she'd considered her aesthetics, even considered the strange way they would sometimes wind up so incredibly close to one another- so pent up and tense- but she has never looked at Emma while she's been with Robin and thought about whether she's made the right choice.

 _There never_ was _a choice!_

Emma _was never a 'choice'!_

No. She's acknowledged the fact that both Robin and Hook show hints of irritation when in the company of the two of them, but even so, she's never put that down to anything other than she and Emma having a tendency to leave everyone else around them out when they get locked in together.

"Thank you for clarifying."

She offers slightly woodenly, and the blonde nods as she sips at her Scotch and smiles.

"Don't worry. We're both screwed."

She says it solemnly, but a touch of conspiracy lingers on her tongue and Regina finds herself reciprocating the younger woman's growing grin with a sinful smirk of her own despite knowing they're digging themselves ever deeper.

_This is your chance to agree with her suggestion that this is dangerous. Tell her there's too much to lose. Tell her you need to call this whole thing to an end before you both lose your footing. Tell her it was fun while it lasted..._

"I believe it's my turn."

She muses, swallowing as her mind continues to beg her to see sense.

"It is."

Emma grins.

_Swan, quit while you're ahead. Let today be known as the day you had Madame fucking Mayor writhing and moaning in her seat and celebrate it annually if you must, but for god's sake don't let this go any further._

"Truth or dare, Regina?"

_Tell her to stop._

"Oh, I suppose I would have to say dare, dear..."

_Call her bluff. Tell her you dare her to go home. Tell her you can't do this._

"Well. I suppose you have yourself to blame for giving me the idea- and leaving it to simmer with me- but, I can't help but feel like I'd like to see a little more."

"Is that so?"

"Yup. It's dark under your desk, you know? And, you pretty much owe me."

"I  _owe_  you?!"

"Well, at least some soft core. You've seen me without a shirt on."

"Mhmm"

"And it _is_  a dare..."

"It is."

"The rules say..."

But Emma trails off and refrains from trying to argue her case further as the Mayor moves her hands slowly to the front of her shirt and begins to undress.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I lied! one more to come- my eyes are getting too tired to continue this eve. Hope you enjoy, and comments would be lovely! :)

Watching the slow descent of expert fingers as the Mayor undoes the buttons of her shirt one by one, Emma holds her breath. She'd had a point when reminding Regina that she's simply evening the playing field as the darker woman has seen her without a shirt, but the raw chaos of that previous escapade and the calculated tension of this moment are a world apart, and her eyes flicker as ever more flesh comes into view.

"The rules say  _what_ , Miss Swan?"

Regina teases sultrily, shucking plush fabric slowly and leaving it to drape behind her in the seat.

"Never mind. You seem to have grasped them pretty well."

The blonde replies huskily, drinking in soft skin and pretty, magnolia lace. Regina offers her a measured look, before adopting a sly smile. It's on the tip of her tongue to ask the younger woman if she likes what she sees, but the darkness of the Sheriff's expression provides an obvious answer. Licking her lips and settling against the hard backrest of the chair, the brunette lets out a shuddered breath as she offers herself up for display. The aggression and confusion of their recent conversation still sits thick in the air, but their shared understanding that they are playing with fire has set a dangerous, and really quite heady mood, and she meets the younger woman's gaze with fierce anticipation.

"You realise if we do this, it's all going to become real. This time, it's thought out. This is calculated. This is only going to stop when either you or I say it should. This is just you and me, no interruptions, Miss Swan. No one barging in. No awkward encounters to let us pretend it's part of a  _game_... Is that what you want?"

"I thought we _were_  playing the game?"

Emma replies eventually, the darker woman's words taking on the guise of a warning, but she can't help but relish the promise underneath. She knows what the brunette is saying though, and she knows it's true. The idea that they might continue with what they started with full understanding that their passion comes down to wanting, liking,  _craving_  terrifies her. But there is something exhilarating in accepting the fact also.

"I thought that's why you just took your shirt off?"

She continues quietly, biding her time, and the Mayor smirks as she pushes her hair away from her face.

"We  _can_  do it that way if you wish... But, am I  _really_  going to have to wait my turn over and over to get what I want?"

An open challenge, and the blonde swallows, before reaching for the bottle standing between them on the table and taking a swig without bothering to pour it into her glass. She answers thoughtfully; aware that her perceived breeziness has so far rubbed Regina up the wrong way, and trying to avoid doing so again. Right now, that's the _last_  thing she wants to do.

Considering what's at stake.

"How about one final round?"

She proposes, and her smile is all sin, but her eyes convey the truth; that she understands what the Mayor is saying perfectly, and she _does_  feel all of the confusion that the brunette had confronted her about lacking. Regina nods slowly, her expression softening slightly but losing none of its sordid fire.

"You've always been one for games, haven't you dear?"

"Actually, not at  _all_ -"

Emma grins

"-I've always been one to like two plus two to equal four, and words uttered to mean what they should mean. It's just not always that way when it comes to  _you_."

"I'm your anomaly..."

Regina muses, and the younger woman nods, admitting softly

"You're my sparring partner."

"I see. Well, dear, that pleasure is- nowadays- all mine."

The brunette smirks, and Emma grins as she pushes the bottle over towards the Mayor and watches her drink from it's rim with a practiced look of distaste.

"So what do you say, Madame Mayor. You have one last go; you can ask me anything. Or tell me to do as you wish. Your move."

"If it's my last, don't I get to choose both?"

"Well, the rules-"

"-Miss Swan. Stop telling me about these so called 'rules'. I have never  _once_  known you to spare rules the slightest courtesy, and this hardly seems the time to start! It's your game, Emma. The rules are yours."

"... Fine. What would you like first?"

"Ah, that's not how it works-"

"-You just  _said_ -"

"-Truth or dare, dear?"

Regina smiles slyly, and the blonde rolls her eyes, but plays along smoothly

"Dare."

"Kiss me. Again."

The brunette challenges, her voice light and in control, but her heart beating fast as she shrouds her excitement. She almost feels foolish for the sheepishness threatening to pinken her cheeks with her demand; such a trait not suiting her at all, and seeming a little irrelevant given that this is something she has asked for before. She is able to forgive herself when she watches the younger woman's characteristically cool demeanour crack to give away how shy she has suddenly become, and she bites her tongue before she can say something cutting on the matter. She is fairly sure Emma would take it in her stride, but right now doesn't seem the time to test the waters.

_Save that for after she gives you what you want._

And, oh, she's beginning to realise that she wants it badly.

Watching as the blonde pushes herself from the stool, she waits as Emma stalks slowly around the desk to where she sits. She supposes this might be less awkward if she were to get up herself, but the younger woman has asked for a final round of their game, and she therefore sees it fit that she maintain her ordinary role of expecting submission. It is an odd thing, but as their relationship as progressed and mended and become amiable, this is something the Sheriff has offered her more and more; seemingly without any conscious thought or consideration of the fact. Emma seems to just genuinely respond to their encounters with a wish to make her happy, and if she  _does_  occasionally feel the darker woman is simply testing out her dominance, she hasn't said so.

"Last round, Emma, best make it count."

She breathes playfully, and the younger woman offers her a withering look that is fairly impressive given the fact it is forced to battle with the lust written plainly across her face. Giving in to heated temptation, Emma leans down and brushes pale lips against painted scarlet and coaxes entry. The brunette hums quietly in her pleasure as slender fingers cup her jaw and guide her into deepening their kiss with a passion that speaks of a lot more than a childish game of dares.

Pulling away only when she is unable to trust herself not to take things further, Emma takes a step back; breathing heavily. Laughing quietly as she tries to regain her composure, she reciprocates the Mayor's small smile with a knowing one of her own and perches on the desk.

 _She really_ does _look pretty like that._

Regina swallows, pressing her finger against the pleasant muscle of the younger woman's thigh before settling back in her chair once more.

"I suppose that was acceptable."

"Acceptable?!"

The Sheriff scoffs, and the brunette licks her lips where the blonde's kiss still lingers with a teasing glitter to her eyes.

"Indeed."

She smirks, and the younger woman rolls her eyes with a good humoured sigh.

"If that were true- and that was _all_  it was- we wouldn't be here."

"You have a rather high opinion of your skills."

"With good reason. Worked to turn  _you_ , didn't they?"

"Hmm."

Regina frowns, running her finger pensively over the flawless skin above her navel.

"Ok, I get a truth, too."

"You do."

"You said you never considered me in the same way you considered Hook, and I completely understand that... I think. But, if you  _weren't_  completely thrown off by the... Well, me being..."

"The girl thing?"

"Yes. Did you ever think about this kind of thing before? With myself, I mean?"

Cocking her head thoughtfully, Emma challenges back gently

"Did you never think of _me_  in any other way but the Saviour, Regina?"

"Many ways! Most of them negative, though" the brunette smiles, "but as for anything of  _this_  nature, I suppose I never really did. That's not to say there was nothing- my infuriation at your very existence was often made all the worse due to not quite understanding some of the residual tension you left me with, and then only grew when I believed maybe I might understand it after all- but I never let my imagination  _wander_  as it were. Not to the point of, well... Fantasy I suppose you'd call it... I sometimes found myself watching your mouth while you'd bicker back at me. Watching your lips. Very recently, I suppose I thought about silencing you somehow, and my proposed methods weren't always pure, but vague musings were all they ever were.. But it's not my turn, dear. The question was for you."

"I know. I was just curious."

"Well, so am I. Did it ever cross your mind?"

"Yes... Not to  _do_  anything about it. And not for a little while now; it was more something that came to me at night after dealing with your less pleasant sides during the day."

"... At night?"

Regina asks, both smirking and blushing slightly. Emma's cheeks pinken also, but she maintains her composure otherwise; lowering her gaze to the rough seam of her jeans, but keeping her voice level and mild.

"It's still your go, you can reword your question if you'd like, Madame Mayor."

"...When you say 'at night'..."

The darker woman begins, but she trails off as she can't find an acceptable way to word what she now wants to know. The notion strikes her as privately amusing; a woman feared by thousands, who had taken back the throne more or less by force, and here she is unable to ask the blonde whether those 'night time thoughts' were ever taken further.

Acted upon.

_When you say 'at night', do you mean you would lie there with thoughts of me?..._

_Lie there, and perhaps channel those thoughts into a form of release?_

Emma seems a couple of steps ahead as she waits with a patience that is more tickled than kind, and the brunette glowers at her haughtily and raises a brow to convey she sees no point in continuing when they both know what it is she really means. Accepting the Mayor's lofty surrender, the Sheriff shrugs and continues awkwardly

"You want to know if I thought about you in the kind of situations we've enjoyed recently and, if I _did_ , whether I, uh, _enjoyed_  those thoughts?"

"Did you?"

Regina pushes, openly intrigued, and her curiosity makes her look much younger. Innocent almost.

"Sometimes."

The blonde nods, shifting her weight on the desk uncomfortably before continuing slowly

"Of course coming here and being suddenly pretty much _celibate_  didn't help. Nor did a lot of the ways you treated me. From _your_  perspective, I guess they were purely spiteful, but from  _mine_... Well, I've always been a sucker for being put through my paces. You did it well, and you looked good doing it. Sometimes I would go to bed and literally lie there almost _shaking_  I was so pissed at you. Other times... I was still pissed at you, but I'd think about how I could go about shutting you up. How I would make my move to really throw you off your game. The idea was appealing in a whole lot of ways. One of those was how I might do it and the noises you might make... It was all in anger, though. All venomous and wanting to teach you a lesson.

After we started to get closer, I guess I thought about serving you up what you deserved less and less."

"... But you did  _think_  about it?"

"I thought about  _you_. Occasionally."

"Still at night?"

The brunette teases boldly, and the blonde grins as she muses coquettishly

"Are you asking if I still touch myself thinking about you?"

Dark eyes glitter fiercely as the Mayor's cheeks flush crimson at hearing it worded so bluntly, but she nods and prompts the younger woman to answer her

"Do you?"

"There were times."

Emma admits, and Regina swallows as she asks huskily

"Before or after Hook?"

"... It's my go, Regina."

"Answer me."

"You had your turn."

"So what? I'm asking you as a friend, then."

"Friends don't ask friends if they get themselves off thinking about them!"

"... Friends don't play the games we've been playing in general, Miss Swan... I won't  _force_  you to answer me, I simply-"

"-Once. Once after Hook."

"... That you thought about me?"

"That I _used_  those thoughts."

"Hm."

Regina offers primly, but her pupils are blown an impossible black and she regards the younger woman with palpable hunger. Emma meets her gaze easily, despite looking slightly embarrassed.

"Ok, now it really  _is_  my turn. Truth or dare, Regina?"

"Ask me."

"Alright..."

Emma nods, before pausing thoughtfully. She has several things she'd like to ask the darker woman, and yet, what keeps  _bothering_  her is the topic they have already covered a couple of times this evening. She knows the brunette has told her that she's never thought about her in any fully fledged, physical sense before, and she believes her when Regina says that she's fairly innocent on all of this. What she  _doesn't_  quite buy is that there has never been anything more than a faint inkling of something there between them in the Mayor's eyes. After all, in her eyes, it has often been Regina making baited comments and pushing the boundaries. She understands that part of that is simply the darker woman's nature, but she doesn't believe for a  _second_  that those antics haven't been entirely- and questionably- personal.

"Have you honestly, hand on heart- or heart in hand for you, I guess!- never had more than an 'understanding' of the tension between us?"

"Have I not said as much?"

"You have. I just don't buy it."

The younger woman admits brazenly, and the Mayor throws her a dangerous look that the blonde imagines would cause many to cower. She simply holds the brunette's warning gaze, and eventually Regina relents and shakes her head.

"I didn't know what to make of it at the time. I'd always found you appealing- it irked me greatly, but it was also a simple fact- but more in a sense where I ached to sneak up on you with a pair of scissors to try and tarnish that attribute somehow. As I said, sometimes being around you would leave me feeling both exhilarated and infuriated. I noticed things about you that maybe I didn't with other people; mostly physical, and I suppose that would suggest I paid keen attention."

"Fair enough-"

"-But, there was  _one_  time. When we were in Neverland. You and I had spent a lot of time together, and I'd started to realise that we were forming some sense of true friendship. The idea- I admit- appalled me ever so slightly. That said, I liked being around you, until the whole lot of you became too bothersome. Then, after the worry with David, and watching you fret over Neal... You came to me and told me not to tell anyone but that you'd kissed the pirate and you were worried it was a mistake. I told you- obviously- that it was. But... Then we went to sort out firewood so that we could all regroup, and you were walking in front of me, telling me some nonsense about some band or other you used to like. I don't know. I would be lying if I said I paid attention, dear. Part of that was due to your terrible taste in music, but a larger part of it was... You told me you'd kissed Hook mainly out of sheer adrenaline. That you'd been on edge and hyped up and you'd just needed some form of release... Walking behind you, I kept having this thought. This very clear, very  _disturbing_  thought that I wanted to drop the kindling you'd asked me to carry and just grab you. Back you into one of the trees and taste you. Possibly more. I was thinking that  _I_  was hyped up too, and that I was _angry_  you let the pirate help you out when _we_  were both in the same boat and we could have helped each other. The thought struck me as entirely inappropriate and I pushed it away... But it was there. And it was clear. It was something I wanted- and imagined what it might _be_  like- to do."

"...I had similar thoughts."

Emma admits quietly, and the brunette raises a brow but says no more on the matter. It's moot now, anyway. She's crossed any boundaries she might once not have realised even existed, and she's enjoyed her spoils. Her worry over her existing relationship lingers, but her confusion in the face of the Saviour has been quite neatly cleared up.

She wants her.

She wants this.

It's terrifying, and as she said, it's going to be real this time, but she wants it.

"That just leaves your final dare..."

She reminds quietly, and the blonde meets her gaze intently before speaking in a low voice.

"I dare you to come with me."

Watching as Emma pushes herself from the desk and stalks slowly for one of the cells, the brunette glances at crisp, clean bedding on the narrow cot and back at the younger woman.

"...In what sense, dear?"

"Both."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The end for now. Hope you enjoy :) Please comment!

Pushing herself from the table, Regina stalks over to the narrow entrance of the cell and regards Emma intently. The blonde's attention is currently lowered to the bare expanse of her stomach, and she smiles slyly as she closes the cell door behind her, as though solidifying the reality of their proposed act. Green eyes flicker up to meet her own and she swallows; the darkness in the younger woman's gaze dangerously enticing.

"You look good."

Emma offers quietly as she remains stood with her back rested against the cool bars of the cell, waiting expectantly at the foot of the bed. Regina nods, perching on the thin mattress and looking up into lust-shadowed features with a sordid smile.

"Thank you. Is this more or less how you'd pictured me?"

She doesn't add anything else to her inquiry, but she can tell from the guilty flash of the Sheriff's eyes that the blonde knows what she means.

"So far, so good."

Emma replies huskily, and the Mayor smirks as she waits for the younger woman to join her on the cot.

"Shy?"

She taunts silkily, and the blonde shakes her head and offers her companion a wicked grin, climbing up onto the mattress and pushing the darker woman down with measured force.

"No. Did you think I would be?"

She asks curiously, and Regina thinks on this with a small hitch of her breath as the Sheriff straddles her assertively.

"Actually... Yes."

She admits, looking down through heavy lids as pale fingers trace the soft dips of her abdomen.

"Yeah?"

"A little. You're hellishly obnoxious, but I've always felt as though that might be a front. You strike me as reserved... Well, you  _did_  before your little game under my desk!"

Allowing her teasing smirk to become a kinder smile, Emma nods agreeably and muses

"I've never been all that great with knowing what to say. I've spent so long trying to shut myself off, that expressing myself is actually pretty hard sometimes... There has always been _one_  way I've excelled in getting my point across, though. Unfortunately, it's not a method that can always be applied."

She winks, and the brunette sighs approvingly as the Sheriff's surprisingly gentle exploration moves up to skim the lace underside of her bra, before returning down to the flat expanse of her stomach; the blonde's left thumb slipping teasingly under the waistband of her skirt.

"I would  _almost_  be so bold as to suggest you might have done well attempting to doing something like this sooner- given that your  _other_  approaches to besting me were so hopelessly flawed- but I suppose now is better than never."

Cocking her head to the side as she raises a brow down at the Mayor, Emma replies quietly

"You almost sound like you've been waiting for this."

"I've been waiting for _something_..."

Regina frowns, remembering the shock she'd felt when understanding Robin had been the one Tink had been preparing her for. She'd felt dubious and uncertain, but also a small glimmer of hope. She'd thought- and why wouldn't she?- that he had been it. He had been what she'd been waiting for.

Looking up into blown green eyes, she swallows, drinking in the thin silver rims lining the blonde's irises and the faint constellation of freckles beneath. Everything about Emma's face is familiar to her, and she allows for the slim possibility that maybe she'd been waiting for something else all along.

"I really  _do_  like you."

The blonde answers quietly with her own look of wariness, but she masks it swiftly with a grin as she runs her hand purposefully up the darker woman's bare side; insinuating that she refers to nothing but flesh.

"Good. Perhaps you'd be so polite as to even things out, then."

Regina suggests with a similarly unemotional rolling of her eyes.

She groans quietly as Emma leans down and tastes her pulse point hungrily before sitting up to comply. The blonde pulls her sweater and the scant scrap of cotton she'd been wearing beneath up over her head and tosses them onto the floor. The simple green cups of her bra juxtapose the intricate magnolia lace of the brunette's, and she rests her palm over the Mayor's left breast, feeling complex whorls brushing her palm.

"Better?"

"It's a start."

The Mayor agrees, and the Sheriff grins as she goes back to kissing the darker woman wetly, moving over her slowly with the encouragement of a firm hand clutching her backside.

"I've got to say, this is a bit more exciting than the last time you got me naked."

Emma sarks against parted lips, and the brunette shivers as she thinks of pretty, pale flesh vulnerable on her dungeon floor, before prompting boldly

"Seems only fair that you give this version of me a better look then,  _as_  you have the experience."

Her tone is teasing, but there is a greater truth that lies behind her words, and Emma's smirk flickers slightly as this fact isn't lost on her. Weighing up whether to make this hard for the brunette or to extend the olive branch, she supposes that Regina has so far been much kinder towards her than she might have been given their current situation, and she decides to repay the favour.

Sitting up to allow the darker woman a better view of what's on offer, she unclasps the small catch at the front of her bra with a deft flick of her wrist; pulling simple satin cleanly out of the way and dropping it onto the rest of her shed clothes. Pushing her hair back with one hand, she rests the other lightly just below Regina's navel as she allows the Mayor to drink in forbidden flesh leisurely.

"So? What about me? Am I more or less what you'd been picturing?"

Emma teases huskily, mimicking the brunette's earlier taunt.

Regina shakes her head slowly, her fingers tracing an experimental path over the soft ripple of the blonde's ribs.

"I told you. I never thought about you this way...-"

She replies quietly, although now that she has Emma sat half naked on top of her- slender thighs cradling her promisingly- she finds that not  _one_  piece of this puzzle seems out of place to her.

It seems natural.

It seems right.

"-Though, I suppose  _now_  it's going to be what I'm picturing..."

She finishes darkly, and the blonde laughs pleasantly and slips her hand from the brunette's stomach to her side in search of the zipper to her skirt. Finding her own boldness in the face of Emma's coy openness, Regina catches the Sheriff's wrist gently and guides her to the well-hidden zip that runs from her waist to the top of her thigh. The blonde smiles down at her wickedly and tugs open narrow little teeth to expose a slice of matching magnolia lace and perfect flesh.

"Dare you to take it off?"

Emma murmurs playfully into the cavern of the brunette's jaw, and Regina rolls her eyes and moves with the younger woman when the latter gets up to allow her room to undress, and she pushes her skirt down with a pointed glance at the grinning blonde and lets it fall on top of the small pile of the Sheriff's clothes. Crawling back onto the bed and pushing at the blonde's shoulders roughly, she climbs on top of her dominantly and reverses their previous positions. The coarse denim of Emma's jeans presses against the damp lace of her underwear deliciously and she makes a small circle with her hips as she grazes her teeth down the valley between the Sheriff's breasts.

A low groan.

A harsh breath as the blonde reaches up and unclasps the Mayor's bra with a teasing scuttle of her fingers.

Moving gracefully to allow Emma to pluck away scant lace, the darker woman tastes her slowly as she grinds above her in just the remaining wisp of her underwear; feeling a little lightheaded as she breathes in almond shampoo and Marc Jacobs perfume.

She knows it's Marc because when she'd been buying her own brand, she'd tested several others, and she'd taken a physical step back in surprise when she'd stumbled across one of the small bottles; spraying it onto the inside of her wrist and recognising the scent immediately.

Appreciatively.

Just as she has grown accustomed to recognising and noticing so  _many_  things about Emma.

"What about now...?"

She hisses, shaking herself from dangerous thoughts and planting a palm either side of the younger woman's shoulders; pinning her down and studying open features intently.

"Is _this_  what you think about when you think about me?"

Touching the tip of her tongue to her top lip, Emma moves with swift aggression and flips them without warning; sitting across slender thighs once again and shrouding the Mayor in a veil of shadow and gold.

"If your goal is to make me feel ashamed, you're doomed to fail. What part of this is supposed to  _embarrass_  me? Have you  _seen_  yourself?"

The blonde growls, sliding her fingers over wet silk to be met with a choked gasp.

"I have."

Regina states through gritted teeth, angling her hips up to meet Emma's playful touch.

"Then you know the answer."

The younger woman scolds, biting at the soft curve of the brunette's breast. Moaning quietly, the Mayor battles the stiff fastenings to the Sheriff's jeans into submission; slipping her hand into the tight confines for figure-hugging Levis coquettishly before crying out when her underwear is pushed aside to reveal her intimately.

"And what will you be thinking when you next see Hook?"

Regina teases wickedly, and she supposes she _knows_  that she's playing with fire- the words leaving her lips belonging to an older, darker version of herself- and the younger woman's punishing response suits her beautifully.

Throwing her head back as slim fingers enter her roughly, she pulls Emma down into her and kisses her breathlessly as the latter snarls at her to watch herself.

"Shut up."

"Make me."

The darker woman quips back, wondering if Emma's ways have been rubbing off on her a little; meeting furious green with electric fire.

Tugging at rough denim viciously, she smirks as the blonde allows herself to be coaxed onto her side, wrestling down tight jeans before slipping her fingers into simple cotton deviously.

Dusky lashes flutter as Emma bites her lip, before the blonde places one leg over the Mayor's; following suit with a slender arm slung over narrow shoulders to keep them flush against each other while each explores the excitement they have instilled.

Parted lips meet as teeth crash and graze, shuddered breath becoming shared as each moves more purposefully towards the delectable promise of release.

Burying her face into the pleasant hollow of the blonde's shoulder, Regina grits her teeth as skilled fingers tease her with just as much finesse as the younger woman's tongue had earlier. In turn, she speeds up her ministrations to a rough assault, wondering momentarily if she's perhaps lacking in the expertise Emma is offering her, but the choked string of expletives that meets her violent response suggests the blonde is entirely in favour of her actions.

This realisation sends a pleasured shiver down the brunette's spine, and she rolls onto the Sheriff; taking heed of this apparent appreciation of her dominance. Quickening her pace as she she pants with the laboured breaths of her own imminent ecstacy, she moves against the blonde as the latter takes her expertly to the edge, and she matches fast fingers furiously as she quivers against shaking limbs and buries her face into sweet smelling waves.

"Oh fuck."

Emma laments through gritted teeth into the curve of her shoulder, and she smirks while every other part of her clenches deliciously with her fingers buried into thick, blonde curls.

"Oh... Emma."

She chokes; closing her thighs around busy fingers and clutching the Sheriff in place as she rides out the waves of her pleasure.

"Fuck, Regina..."

The blonde seems to agree, rolling away from the Mayor shakily, but keeping her hand cupped against the latter's spasming heat.

"That was..."

The brunette tries, before losing her train of thought with a belated shudder.

"It was real."

Emma prompts a little nervously, and the darker woman nods as she curls up onto her side next to the Sheriff on the narrow cot mattress.

"What now?"

She breathes. And the younger woman swallows, before pushing herself up and looking down on bliss-struck features with hesitant affection.

"Now... We take it as it comes. I don't  _know_ , Regina. I just know... I liked that."

She admits a little uncomfortably, and the Mayor smirks; her eyes closed and her hand draped contently over her stomach.

"Yes. I believe I _could_  grow partial to this becoming a regular occurrence also."

"But, what about-"

"-Shh. I don't have any answers. No more than you do... Only one."

"What's that?"

"I like you also."


End file.
